Chapter 21
part 2
The laboratory
Hello readers! Apologies for the delay, summer hit me hard. Still, here it is for you to read.
As always, have fun, and point the flaws.
Laboratory's lower levels.2 May 2185. 20 12 local hour
The inner core inside the room thrummed with power as its Eezo-powered heart filled with life all the machines present inside the complex, unyielding despite the ruin and destruction wrought near it. It was a thing of beauty, at least according to Tali: spherical in shape, three times bigger than the infirmary on the Normandy, surrounded by pipes, tubes, buttons and levers, the thing writhed more like a beast from a fairy tale than an actual energy core. Its metallic tendrils snaked endlessly, from the subterranean levels to the tallest place of the palace. And, most important above all, to the interred machine still blocking the squad signal across the whole complex.
Not that Garrus cared as much about this right now. He was far too busy stopping himself from dying.
"Claws almost reached carpal artery. Very dangerous. Prevented blood loss, closing the wound now, but recommend moving back to the Normandy immediately!" chirped Mordin Solus, the only doctor on the party as he examined Garrus's still bleeding neck with his Omni-tool. The scales were broken in three points, and soft, brown tissue bled blue ichor as the doctor administered the medi-gel
"Positive notice: now having conclusive evidence. Specific creatures of -Yoma- spectrum can break heavy armour."
"Duly noted doctor. Thanks for pointing the obvious!" Snarled Garrus as another fit of pain wracked his neck.
The wound stung more than that time when he stopped a missile with his face and itched even harder! The fact that half of the floor was now painted in blue blood, his blue blood, didn't help either.
Grunt, some steps forward him, chortled happily at his discomfort.
"Man up, Garrus," he whispered out loud. "Don't be a pussy. Is not like he hit you on the Quads!"
"Screw you Grunt! Tali. Give me good news, please," grumbled Garrus.
"I am almost done Garrus" replied Tali without even moving her head away from a series of consoles. The girl was far too busy arming with the computers and still surviving controls, cracking down any barriers and code stopping her from accessing the core matrix of the jammer signal. Streams and streams of data appeared and disappeared inside her Omni-tool as the girl, helped by Miranda, fought a battle against the virtual intelligence as hard and brutal as the one just suffered, if not even more.
"Just a few thousands more programs."
"Just!" cursed Garrus loudly as another fit of pain coursed through him. The responsible for this mess, a crustacean-like...Something now on the floor, its stomach ripped open by a shotgun blast, looked at Garrus with its now glassy eyes. Even in death, the thing was repellent to look at it, with its pincer in place of hands, yellows eyes, grey body and purple blood splattered on the floor. One of the pincers still had in a death grip part of Garrus's neck armour, ripped apart when the accursed thing jumped at him from the cooling system of the room of all places! Like a spider!
"Samara!" asked Garrus, trying to forget the pain "Anything coming?"
"Nothing, for now, commander," replied Samara as the Justicar eyed the exit of the room some paces away from the main group, wary of any possible attackers.
"It appeared that Shepard's idea worked. These few...Creatures were the only ones attacking us."
-Yeah, too bad one of them almost skewered me before dying!- grimaced Garrus
-Spirits! If Lena, back from whatever hell hole spawned her, killed these beasts daily, with a freaking sword no less! Then I utterly underestimated her! These bastards are tough!-
The few others dead Yomas, more human in their appearance, as human as a two-meter tall beast with grey skin and claws from hands can be, laid strewn on the floor, broken by fire and biotics.
No more than four. Stragglers, maybe. Garrus couldn't care right now.
"Another pass with the Medi-gel and...done!" exclaimed Mordin all of a sudden. So engrossed had been Garrus with his musing that he failed to notice Mordin's work. The old doctor had hands of gold, Garrus had to admit: the pain was now mostly gone, and he could move the arms again, although less gracefully than before.
"My thanks doctor," replied Garrus gratefully.
"Still suggest going back to the ship. Only partial cure. Doctor Chackwas need to take a better look."
"After the mission. Tali?"
"Just another three hundred and...done!" Tali's chirping voice was quickly replaced by a thrumming sound, like a drum coming back to life. The sparkling power coursing through the tubes was abruptly stopped as security valves activated themselves, sealing the pipes with an iron grip. The machine whined loudly at this intrusion as computers blared and wailed alarms into the air. The core thrummed in pain as it tried to reassess itself under the new directives. Sparks flew in the air and energy sizzled and trumpeted inside the nucleus, colouring it with cherry red and orange flames. For a few, precious seconds, it almost appeared as the machine was about to melt. Lights and consoles blared and shattered. Fumes billowed away from the strained tubes. Garrus's group quickly dove for cover.
But in the end, nothing happened. The dreaded explosion did not arrive, and a loud whining sound replaced the roars as the core obeyed the new directives.
"Wow, you were right, Miranda. It actually worked." quipped Tali as she finally started moving.
"I am surprised it didn't melt from inside. You Cerberus people are good at making nuclei despite being racist assholes."
"Thanks, Tali" answered Miranda as she raised an eyebrow.
"Gather up, people!" barked Garrus as the machine stopped working.
"We are done our part, now it's time to reunite with Shepard. Let's test the comms."
Quick talons activated the comms lodged on the armour, miraculously saved from the Yoma attack. The machines chirped back in response and this time Garrus didn't hear any static coming from the radios.
"Shepard. This is Garrus. Jamming device is gone. What is your status?"
Only silence answered him.
"Shepard?" asked Garrus again. His eyes moved quickly toward Tali.
"It is working!" answered Tali franticly "The machine is spent, I swear it!"
"Spirits damnit Shepard! Answer me! Shepard!"
"Shepard! Answer me! Shepard!"
Garrus's voice rang inside Shepard's ears like thunder but reached the commander with a ghost-like sound. Dazed, barely conscious, half-buried in rubble and cables, the commander groaned lightly in pain as the familiar noise of his best friend ripped him away from the quiet comfort of darkness.
He tried to move and felt the heavyweight of his chest breaking his chest and his breath as they fell even deeper on his stomach.
"W...what?" murmured Shepard lightly, his eyes still refusing to fully open. His sight felt cracked, disjointed. It took some seconds for the bewildered commander to understand that it was his broken helmet the cause.
"Shepard!" this time Garrus's voice arrived clear as a thunder, reawakening most of the commander's brain with a snap.
"How...what...Oh, fuck!" cursed the commander. He felt like the entire planet was weighing on his shoulders. And judging by how much rubble his tired eyes saw on his chest, he wasn't that far from the truth.
The lull of sleep tried to overpower him once again, promising him a night of rest and relief, if only he allowed himself to close his eyes.
Just five minutes. Nothing more. Garrus could wait for five minutes, right?
Like hell he could.
-Focus. Remember the training!- cried to himself, kicking away such foolish desires.
First of all, the commander flexed his arms, checking for any damage. The fingers answered adequately, and the bones moved quickly in response. Already a great notice.
"Ok, now" Shepard's arms grabbed the smallest debris stuck on his body as he started to remove the most minor pieces stuck on his body. Next to him, Shepard felt Jack groaning under what looked a steel beam. Just how wounded she was, he could not say.
Piece after piece, the commander removed all the stones hampering his body, starting from the smallest ones. A slow, careful job that took precious minutes away as Shepard's ears warily rose in fear of hearing...that thing's return.
"Steady!" the debris covering Shepard shuddered as they slowly gave away the pressure. Dust and debris fell on Shepard's mouth, making him cough through the cracks, but still, he endured. Finally, with one last push, the rubble covering Shepard gave up and slid away, allowing Shepard to step back. Dust and debris fell from Shepard's dented armour as the commander slowly rose up from the ground, checking for damage on her body and weapons. The steel plates had seen better days, alongside the pistol but, overall, they were still functional, a testament of their craftsmanship. The helmet was a goner though.
Considering what had caused all of this ruckus, it was nothing short of a miracle.
"Garrus, this is Shepard. I am assuming from your voice that you finally dealt with our little problem." groaned Shepard as he braved the ruins, looking for his squad members. Small cheers of relief came from his comm as he said these words. Something that made Shepard smile bitterly.
The entire hallways where he stood was a ruined mess: shattered steel beams littered the landscape together with ripped steel bulkheads and broken fragments of the marble floor. Freshly liberated cables zapped and shrieked in the air as Shepard's boot cracked the fragmented remnants of glass lights. His still trembling hands rummaged inside the debris, where he had heard Jack groaning a second before, fearing the worst.
"Yes, Shepard. Jammer sequence dealt with. Everything is working now. According to our scanner, you are on the main hallway of the third floor. Is that right?" arrived Garrus's answer in the meantime, still garbled but improving at speed.
"What is your status? Over!"
"Status is: fucked." replied Shepard acidly as he moved the last steel pole away, finally revealing a battered, but still breathing (and cursing) Jack.
"The thing Lena spoke of. The -awakened being-, it attacked us. And tore us a new one, Garrus." Shepard grimaced as he gave Jack a helping hand. Half of the debris still on it fell on the ground, creating a thunderous sound that echoed inside the hall, but now Jack was finally free.
The girl wobbled away, bleeding heavily from a cut on her scalp and dozens of small wounds. She held her chest in pain but still willed herself to stand up. More than enough for now.
"Little help here too?" gnarled Zaeed's voice beneath a cascade of shattered roof tiles. Jack snarled and spat on the ground, a coppery spit of blood and water, but still, she rose her hands. Shimmering tendrils of biotic power escaped from her fingers, and soon all the debris covering the old merc rose from the ground.
"About bloody time!" cursed the grizzled merc, apparently no worse for wear. He quickly found his assault rifle abandoned on the floor and promptly snatched it from the ground, looking for damage.
"That tentacled bitch almost broke my Bessie." snarled back as he finished the check "Now it is personal."
"You ok Zaeed?"
"No Shepard, I am not ok." Fumed Zaeed "But I will manage, as long as we kill that overgrown octopus."
"Specify Shepard." Miranda's voice came to the comm all of a sudden
"What attacked you exactly? Do you have video feeds? Did...did you at least managed to wound it?"
"We didn't even tickle it, cheerleader!" snapped Jack back.
"Those things...dozens of tentacles coming inside the hall as fast as priests inside a fucking altar boy. We didn't even saw who sent them, so quick they fucked us up. It almost looked like a tentacle porn mag for a second."
"...What?" asked Garrus puzzled. "tentacle porn...mag?"
"Not now, Garrus." quickly added Shepard. "And no video feeds, unfortunately. It all happened way too quickly, and my helmet is a goner. But maybe Jacob has some. Jack, help me raise the rest of the rubble please. See if the others are buried inside."
Together, with biotic and pure muscle, Jack and Shepard cleared most of the room, looking for their squad-mates.
No one answered. The halls soon became clear of rubbles and debris, but no bodies were found underneath. The shattered hallway echoed Shepard' and Jack's work but conveyed no response.
"Guys?" demanded Shepard in the air, worried, cursing this entire situation once again.
"God's damnit! Lena!"
"Shepard" remembered Jack quietly. "Before the tentacles slammed me on the beams, I saw them grabbing Lady Oscar alongside that hooded idiot and chocolate."
"Killing them?" asked Zaeed
"No. Looked more like dragging them away. But I was half fucked already so I might be wrong."
Zaeed cursed loudly at this remark.
"Tali. Most of our hardware is busted" quickly said Shepard as he hatched a contingency plan "So you need to become our eyes. Send your drones, scan the places, do anything you can. We are regrouping."
"Roger Shepard" answered Garrus "And the others?"
"The others" replied Shepard "They are either dead or captured. In either case, we cannot help them without a plan."
12 minutes after Shepard's reawakening. Top of the laboratory complex
The pained thrum of hundreds upon hundreds of drums echoed inside Lena's mind as her dazed brain tried to reawaken into life. Her eyes refused to open as flashes of pain ripped her body apart piece by piece. Her flesh refused to answer her call as a heavy ache for sleep captured her mind with iron shackles.
-Just five minutes. Five more minutes.- murmured her tired brain.
Heavy slaps hit her face as her mind began to wander back into the realm of the dreams. Harsh, powerful, and desperate.
"Wake up, Lena!" screamed a voice and yet far from the Claymore's ears. "Please, wake up, do not leave me alone!"
The urgency of the words ripped away the Claymore from her slumber. Dazed, confused, her cheeks throbbing in pain as flashes of light seeped inside the deep cover of her eyelids.
"Where...where am I?" asked the still dazed woman to no one in general. Black dots covered her eyes, but again, he managed to stand up from the ground. Barely.
Blood still flowing from her ripped armour and shattered leg guards, Lena felt it the more she came back into the land of the living, and her trembling fingers failed to find any weapon on reach. But still, she moved.
Before she could fully regain some sense, a pair of arms enveloped her in a tearful hug as a girl wrapped herself into her chest with desperate abandon. It took seconds for Lena to recognize in the scared, bleeding and dishevelled girl the Kasumi she knew.
"Oh, thank God, you are alive!" Kasumi deepened her hug as small tears fell from her now smudgy eyes. Her short hair was a mess, and her usual lines of makeup were all smudged and destroyed by dry blood and tears. Her dress didn't fare much better: most of the fabric looked torn and broken, with large swats of the girl's body free to be seen for Lena's eyes. Especially the stomach and lower half.
Knowing what had probably kidnapped them, Lena doubted it was a coincidence.
The Claymore stumbled and tried to move, but immediately she felt cold metal hitting her calves.
"Now what?" she cursed lightly.
Turning her head, Lena noticed a coil of rusty metals roughly hammered into chains, locking both her and Kasumi's legs on the floor. Locked at their calves, they prevented them from running or even moving by coiling on their legs like a snake. No locking mechanism was in place; whoever placed the chains had opted for twisting the metal in such a way that reminded Lena of a knot used by sailors for their ropes. So strong was the tie that when the Claymore tried to either break them or undo the knot, she only managed to hurt her fingers.
The sheer strength to do such a thing to casted iron said volumes about their jailer's power.
"I thought I had lost you!" murmured Kasumi as Lena finally relented. The girl curled up in a ball and tried to hide her now almost revealed body.
"Kasumi...what happened. Where are we?"
"I hoped you knew it what happened. I only remember hearing the sound of those horrible appendages, the shattering of the hall and...and..."
Heavy breathing began escaping from her lungs.
"The tentacles...snatching me before I could even scream or fire. I was invisible, the programme was working! But they still snatched me! I remember you cutting one of them before being grabbed yourself together with Jacob, and then...then."
Kasumi's breath became shallow as the girl shivered and trembled in utter terror.
"Ehi, calm down!" demanded Lena immediately forcing the girl to look at her silver eyes.
"We cannot afford to lose control right now, ok? Stay sharp. Do it for me!"
Kasumi squealed and tried to wriggle herself away, but Lena's grip proved far too strong. Lena forced the girl to look at her, to listen to her voices. She knew the dangers of panicking against Yoma touched better than anyone after all.
"Yes...yes" answered Kasumi grateful, slowly calming her breath. It took almost a minute, but Kasumi's breathing finally became less ragged, more controlled.
"Thank you, Lena, I needed it."
"Don't worry, I understand. Awakened being scares even me. Now, first of all, where are we?"
"The top of the complex, I think. I remember going upward during the daze. Apart from that, this place looks like a laboratory, one where someone allowed a herd of angry buffalo to stampede inside."
Kasumi was right. Now that she could focus her eyes, Lena saw throngs of shattered pieces of equipment, broken chairs and computers, glass and operating tables. The entire squared room, roughly three times bigger than the Normandy's mess hall, appeared broken, sullied, stampeded. The few surviving lights gave a ghastly appearance of the whole site that made Lena shiver in apprehension.
On closer inspection, Lena also noticed dozens of small rooms linked to the main one by iron doors, or what was left of them in most cases. Quiet growls escaped from the darkness, and inside all of them, Lena saw the glimpse of yellow eyes looking at the pair, watching every move. Only one door was still intact and firmly closed. One at the north end of the hall, one filled with cables pumping energy inside it.
"This is its lair, right? Looks like one. And the being. Have you seen it, Kasumi?"
Kasumi grimaced and shivered.
"Yes...I saw her."
"Her?"
"Her. The upper body looks like one of a woman. No, a young girl that has just reached puberty. But the rest..."
"How it is? Please, tell me. Even the smallest details are important when dealing with awakened being."
Kasumi hiccuped and slightly recoiled at the memory.
"She...she is"
"Oh, deaaaar." exclaimed a childish voice all of a sudden.
Lena's breath stopped coming for a moment, as her senses screamed with all the tongues of the universe to run and scream as the power now suddenly behind her flashed with all its glory. The Claymore felt a slithering sound behind her, like a snake slowly creeping behind. Kasumi yelped and hid her face on her chest.
"You are awake! I am so glad! I feared I had used a bit too much strength on my claws."
It was such a sweet, gentle voice. Utterly out of place for the monstrous Yoki raging behind it. A yoki that entirely eclipsed Lena's even at her strongest.
"Come one dear, let me see your face."
A long and slimy hand touched Lena's shoulders, forcing her to turn away from Kasumi.
And when she did, her silver eyes witnessed a nightmare incarnate.
The upper part of the monster's body was, as foretold, almost human, both flawless and wrong at the same time. Pale white skin, impeccable in shape and unblemished. Small, perky breasts moved gracefully in the still air as a pair of slender arms, arms ending with unnaturally long claws, clamped Lena's chest, forcing the Claymore to look right into two pools of darkness passing as eyes. A cascade of long, black hairs fell on the ground like a blanket. No wind entered inside the ruined laboratory, and yet Lena saw many clumps of strands moving on the air as if restless, with a mind of their own. Lena swore she heard them even hissing at Kasumi for a second.
The rest of the body, on the other hand, was a guaranteed nightmare.
From the waist down, Lena saw a bed of brown, red and purple slithering tentacles, claws, stings and pincers tugging and nagging at the steel floor, making dents on the hard metal as they moved and slid forward. A thick, dense liquid that smelled like rancid meat exuded from her lower skin as she walked, making the Claymore retch in disgust. Spikes of bones stretched out from her back, taller than Lena and skittering on the air as if ready to fly. The beast was massive, undoubtedly reaching the roof of the room and large enough to cover most of Lena's eyes.
The Claymore retched and retracted in disgust at this sight.
"No, no, no, dear!" quickly said the monster.
"Come here, let me taste you."
The neck of the creature wrenched itself away from its socket and lengthened itself like a rope toward Lena and the Claymore could do nothing to stop her. The beast came an inch close to Lena's face, pools of darkness against the silver, and let out a purple tongue. The appendage licked Lena's chin with delectable gusto for a moment, savouring the taste of sweat and skin, only to have it spit it out in disgust a second later.
"Good Lord dear! You taste awful! Like rancid meat and piss."
-As I feared- thought Lena unnerved. Yoma hated Claymore's flesh. It was a well-known fact back on the island.
"I never tasted anything so foul! Even a week-old corpse taste better."
"It is normal for our kind" replied Lena quickly, trying to regain some control. "My flesh is...distasteful, for your kind."
"Oh?" the beast's head arched like a snake "Your kind? But you smell like me? Was I wrong, dear?"
"Yes and no." explained Lena, keeping her, and herself, distracted "You are an awakened being, a creature born from the yoki energies. I am a Claymore."
"Intriguing" all the pinchers and tentacles down on the ground snapped back and forth in excitement "tell me more."
"You first, please. Who are you? How did you become like this?"
"You wish to know?" asked the beast "You truly wish to know? To understand? Are you even able to?" her coils came even closer to Lena as Kasumi yelped and tried to move away. Lena stood calm and lightly turned back.
"Kasumi, close your eyes" the girl quickly complied.
Huffing in distress, the Claymore grabbed what was left of her armour and lifted it away from her chest piece, followed by the ruined remains of the dress behind. Revealing the naked body. And with it, the scar.
The beast's dark eyes slightly closed, not understanding the reason, only to widen in shock as it finally saw it: the long, puckered and scarred flesh on her chest. The mark of the Claymore.
"You...you have it? I also had it at first, when the nasty lady ripped me apart and placed the wriggling flesh! But it went away once i stopped fighting!" the beast's neck coiled on Lena's chest like a snake across all the Claymore as it examined Lena's chest with giddy excitement. Lena kept a stony face as the neck wrapped itself on her chest and stomach, gleaming eyes looking at her flesh.
"So you are like me! I knew it! I am so happy to meet another one, I was getting so lonely! We are going to be the bestest of friends!" Cried the beast as she grabbed both of Lena's hands. They were so strong that Lena felt her finger almost snap under the pressure.
"Yes...glad to meet you too. Now, can you let me go? You are hurting me!"
"Right right!" the beast uncoiled itself from Lena, giggling madly, as her dark eyes locked itself on Lena.
"Sorry friend. My name is Maria, what is yours?"
"Lena. Nice to meet you."
"Ooh, me too. Come come! Let's go inside my private rooms!"
Maria sprinted toward Lena, quickly shattering the chains holding her calves with one of her spikes, freeing the Claymore. But not Kasumi.
"Thanks, but what about my friends? Kasumi, and the others?"
All the happiness disappeared in one blow. Maria's eyes darkened even more as she eyed the whimpering girl.
"Friends? Them? They are fodder and nothing more! Food!"
"Then why leaving her with me?"
"Because I thought you wanted a snack! Don't bother with this one and leave her to my pet if you are not hungry, 'kay?"
Fifty eyes glowered in the dark as Lena felt the presences of Yomas coming from the many cells dotting the room. Kasumi shrieked and closed her eyesight with what was left of her cowl.
"No!" cried Lena grabbing Maria's hand, stopping the creature on its tracks. Maria's hairs snapped back and forth as the tentacles chittered madly on the ground.
"...I mean, no, please. I understand your loathing, I also have it toward other humans, and rightfully so. We have both been betrayed, hurt and ripped away by others. We have all the rights to be angry and distrusting" soothed Lena. Maria purred under such words as her hairs prickled in the air in delight.
"But I assure you! She is not a bad person! I tested her. Over and over and over, and she never broke my trust like many others, Believe me! She is a caring, sweet and joyful person to have around. Just give her a chance!"
Maria frowned slightly, but still said nothing against Lena's words. The Claymore took out her best poker smile while inwardly begging the monster to accept it.
"If you say so." finally said, but with a hint of uncertainty.
"I guess I can give her a chance...later." Maria turned toward the glowing eyes.
"Be nice with her lovelies! No biting for now. Just some licking if you are really hungry."
The Yomas whined and cursed loudly, but obeyed much to Lena's relief. She was not new to the Awakened being's ability to control lesser Yomas. She quietly thanked that it proved sound even today.
"But enough talking for now, it is time for you to see my private chambers. You will love them, I assure you. I even forced some scientists to repair the fridge before devouring them, and now I have so many fresh guts to eat! And fresh blood too! Don't you love the taste on the mouth?"
It took all of Lena's willpower to not retch in disgust at what was about to happen. Instead, the Claymore merely stood up from the floor and start following Maria with a smile as she slithered toward the last unspoiled door. A tough task, considering the amount of debris and destruction still plaguing the place.
Kasumi let her go, but before disappearing from her sight, she whispered these words toward Lena.
"Do not abandon me! Please!"
-I will not- swore Lena to herself as Maria giddily grabbed the Claymore's hand and moved toward her "private rooms."
-By the Goddesses, I swear I will not-
The third floor of the science complex. 34 minutes after Lena's revival.
"Tali, give me good news please."
"I wish I could Shepard, but the readings of the top of the tower are fudgy at best. Every time one of my drones enter inside that level, something swipes it to the ground. The luckiest one garnered this before being destroyed."
A fuzzy image of a dark room covered in debris and shattered glass appeared inside Tali's Omni-tool. For a split second the figure of a crying Kasumi appeared inside the drone's acute lenses but, the second it moved closer to investigate, something sturdy hit it on the head and shattered it to pieces.
"That's it."
"At least we know that Kasumi is alive, for now," grumbled Garrus.
"We already knew that scarface." chortled Jack now mostly patched up after the previous encounter.
"Cheerleader kept tabs of all of us behind all our backs, the little voyeur. Wasn't Shepard the only one allowed to do this shit in battle?"
"Prudence!" retorted Miranda annoyed "Mere prudence as the second in command, Jack. You should thank me for this."
"Speaking of which, are their transponders still working?" enquired Shepard before another battle ensued.
"Barely" answered Miranda with a frown as she checked the Omni-tool "Their armour must be a mess for receiving signals like this. Lena and Kasumi look stables, but Jacob's vitals worry me. They are...erratic. As if something is slowing his metabolism."
"As long as there is life, there is hope. Mordin did you managed to get something from all the data we accumulated in the meantime? Any weak joints on the building, secondary passageways? Anything we can use to gain some semblance of vantage against them?"
"Nothing Shepard," replied Mordin ruefully.
"Looked and analyzed most of the data just gathered from surviving computers and memory cores found. No traces of weaknesses or hidden spots on the last floor of the complex. Found great quantities of data and video feeds about the experiments, and the name of many researchers involved in them, including the lead researcher and head of the complex."
"Names?" asked Shepard.
"Abigail Kane and Victoria Winstor. Only the last one is officially known among scientific community.
"Oh God!" groaned Miranda "That bitch! I should have expected it." She furrowed her scalp heavily as she spoke.
"You know her?" asked Shepard, surprised.
"Victoria Winsor." answered Miranda with a tinge of annoyance "38 years old, degrees in biology, botany and literature. Master in human genetics and a doctorate involving all the ways a human genome can be regrown, altered or stamped out. Part of the reason you are alive today is her, Shepard. She was the one responsible for mapping and repairing your genetic sequences during the Lazarus Project."
"I see" pondered Shepard "Then why the sights Miranda?"
"Because" and this time Miranda's words came out laced with venom.
"She is the most insufferable, annoying, self-righteous piece of shit I have ever met in all my life, and I experienced both the scum of Omega and my father."
Shepard raised an eyebrow at this reaction.
"Born from a rich family from what was once the south of Africa, arrogant beyond belief, violent misandrist, a vocal activist against alien intrusion on Alliance space and a firm believer of the supposed female superiority over...God damnit everything! She accepts only women in the upper echelons of her research staff, even when they prove less expert or competent than their male counterparts, and constantly blather about female domination, the stupidity of men and shit like that over and over and over! At the same time, she is a vengeful harpy with the gentleness of an ogre! She employs our staff as a slave driver, always ready to give the blame to someone else and take all the praises! Opportunist, greedy, petty, bitchy, always thinking to be right, never admitting her mistakes! She even tried changing your sex during the Lazarus Project, and almost killed you again in the process. When I confronted her I discovered that she tried this stupid idiocy -for your own good- and that -Leaving such a bright, resourceful person like you as a male was the true tragedy!- I kicked her out of my project after that stunt, and threatened to use my biotics if she even dared to come thirty feet near to your operating table."
"Shame" blurted Garrus with a grin "I bet you would have been gorgeous as a girl, Shepard. What do you say, Tali?"
"I don't know" commented Tali puzzled "The idea of despising and belittling an entire group only because of their gender, to the point of changing them against their will, fells off to me. Back on the Migrant Fleet we never had the luxury of dismissing people for such trivialities. And I like Shepard as it is."
"Of course you do." smiled Garrus
"You would be a kick-ass bitch Shepard, you already have a killer bottom after all. Small and perky" chortled Jack. Tali instinctively looked at Shepard's rear as she spoke.
"She looked at it too?" whispered Tali in fright.
"And I think red hair suits you. You know what? This is a fucking A-grade idea from head bitch. Next time we go back to the Citadel, let's go buy a wig, fake boobs and a bunch of nighties for the commander. Can't wait to see the result!"
"In your dreams, Jack" growled Shepard menacely. Jack did not get the message though.
"Aaah, afraid of having your sissy bottom ass-fucked Shepard?" taunted Jack
"Man or woman I would still kick your ass, Jack." quiet waves of laughter echoed inside the room just before Shepard turned his head back to his squad and dared them to keep going "Apart from this bullshit, anyone found scraps of useful intel?"
A quiet silence answered his call.
"Apologies Shepard" murmured finally Mordin ruefully "No important pieces of intel."
"Good. File everything you found on these computers and make sure it does not erode. I want to watch every scrap you saved today once back on the Normandy. Understand what truly happened here. In the meantime, anybody got a plan?"
Again, no one answered to Shepard for long seconds, much to his chagrin.
"Apologies Shepard. I know too little about such enemies to devise accurate battle strategies, even with my centuries of experiences." murmured Samara with regret.
"Let's charge gun blazing and kill them all!" roared Grunt impatient. Everyone ignored him.
"Well...it is not exactly a plan, but" intervened Miranda all of a sudden as she activated her Omni-tool
"Speak your mind, Miranda!" encouraged Shepard.
"Usually our" Shepard sent her a stare hard enough to break steel "Cerberus's secret bases are built following a standard template construct invented by our architects. One specifically designed to have more than one escape hatch for all the essential personnel in case of surprise attack, and various security measures to...dispatch the results and prevent any experiments from escaping. Judging by the nature of this facility, I am ready to bet that such preventive measures are specifically designed to kill these monsters. Maybe an acid that destroy biological matter on a cellular level."
"And why didn't you mentioned this sooner?" asked Zaeed gruffly. Garrus and Jack both supported him with withering glares.
"Because such measures can be activated only by a genetic key locked to one person: the head of the facility. In this case, doctor Winston. Back on the Lazarus project I had one designed for you, Shepard, in case the situation demanded."
"Thank God you didn't." murmured Shepard as hectic as his resurrection had been, it beated being vaporized by a machine in case of -avoiding important assets- as she oh so gently pointed out.
"But what about these passages? Can you find them? Can they give us an edge?"
"Agent's Tali map proved that both our comrades and that monster are holed up at the summit of the facility, where the most important experiments were done. It stands by logic to assume that preventive passages must have been created for the lead scientists holed up here. Unfortunately, all intel about their locations there appear to be destroyed." finished the girl dejectedly "And we cannot waste weeks looking for them in a four-plan building."
"But where technology fails, logic help!" smiled Mordin all of a sudden
"Passages created to bring researchers in either safe havens of complex main's exits. Doors hidden of course, but nothing hidden forever. Too long to map entire complex with Omni-tool, but this not necessary. Speculate to find such doors back on the main gates, or hangar bay. Or secondary corridors at most. Scans and precise looks should on these specific places only. Dull, complicate, but doable. Three hours at most."
"That..." commented Garrus twitching his mandibles "That might actually work. If we modify our Omni-tools to sense small air pressures on the walls."
"Yes!" interrupted Tali "Micro-fractures on the walls and slight variations on the size and welding of the bulkheads. We can do that!" immediately the girl started working on her Omni-tool.
"And once inside? What shall we do?" asked Samara "If your words are true, then this monster is beyond any of us. Do you think that the mere advantage of surprise might tip the scales in our favour?"
"No Samara, but this is not the objective" answered Shepard.
"We map the tunnels, see where they lead. Once we know what we can use to our advantage, we use them to surprise the monster and get our people out of this mess- Then we get the hell out of there and bombard this place from orbit."
"Rattling the cage of a predator and stealing its food," concluded Samara, her expression calm despite the implication of such plan.
"You are a bold human Shepard. Let's pray that the Goddess will favour your courage."
"More like recklessness." sniggered Garrus.
"Enough talking team! Let's start the search. Every minute is precious."
Pushed by his words, Shepard's team moved away from the room and began to sweep the hallways as they moved back to the main entrance, their Omni-tools trained on the walls in search of the slightest crack and opening.
"Still Shepard, considering carefully a full gender change." inquired Mordin all of a sudden "Many cultures among Citadel have female leadership. Easy change with modern technology. And"
"This conversation is Over!"
See you at the next part people.
