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Espacole
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Why do I ALWAYS FORGET what FUCKING RIFLE everyone uses?!
Ugh!
Edit Prior to Posting : Apologies for any delays or oddness in the chapters, I'm ill.
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"Understood." Shepard sighed and nodded, free hand tapping the Viper she held comfortably across her sternum while she talked. "With your permission, I will intervene with my ground team. Transferring Spectre credentials now."
"I see it." Detective Anaya, the apparent head of the space-port's security, confirmed tiredly a heartbeat later. "I'll need to meet you in-person for a facial I.D., though. Protocol."
"Understood." She grunted, "Transfer landing codes and designated zones. We'll be landing momentarily."
"Aye, Commander." The woman grunted, "And thank the Goddess for your help, too."
"Mhm." She cut the line and turned to her squad without another word. Penny was in the corner of the shuttle, watching her with sharp green eyes that seemed to glow dimly, but Vakarian stood to meet her and coked his head to the side in question. She explained, "Our target is ripping through the space port, and the mercenaries there who've been using it's warehouses for smuggling."
"Awesome." Garrus nodded, "So we wait for her to finish them off, have a chat, and head back."
"Well…"
"Oh Spirits, we're going to run in, aren't we?"
"Detective Anaya, the local law enforcement I mentioned, has orders from on high to detain the Justicar." Shepard explained, and went on when Garrus only shrugged, "Justicars are bound only by their code, not the law. If Detective Anaya tries it, the Code will place her as defending the mercenaries. Which…"
"Would get her killed." Garrus sighed tiredly, "Yeah, I get it. We're running in."
"Mhm." She smiled thinly at the old smile - a few extra years or not, Garrus would always be Garrus, she supposed. Moving on, she explained, "This will be a slow, secure operation. A Justicar is formidable, but alone, she'll need time. We'll be sent in to detain her, but we'll be taking our time."
"Isn't that against the goal…?"
"Technically." She admitted with an uncaring shrug, "But Detective Anaya's superiors know what they're asking. For all they know, it just took that long."
"That sounds awfully deceptive…"
"It is, but we'd only be rushing to save mercenaries. And drug dealing ones at that, from the detective's words." Shepard explained with a small smile, "If these were security officers, or civilians, I'd rush us in. But for mercenaries…"
"Your life just isn't worth any of theirs, Penny." Garrus explained for her, which seemed to mollify the woman well enough and earned a curt nod. Turning back to her the Turian asked, "So, what's the plan?"
"Penny, assault role primary. Garrus, close-marksmanship and support. I'll handle ranged support." It was the same plan as always, but it always bore making things clear in combat scenarios. Each of the two nodded their acceptance of her orders and she returned it, turned and slid her helmet on. "Form up - I want to present a good image."
"Pretend we're professionals." Garrus quipped, "Got it."
The shuttle shuddered as it came down and the door slid out and to the side to let them out. Flanked by her team, Shepard stepped out onto the concrete grey-top of the shipping center.
For the most part, the shipping center was entirely unremarkable, the same as she'd seen on Earth and every one of her colonies Shepard had been to. Except, built on top of a squat, blocky sky-scraper with fifty towering floors of warehouses, transit zones and open-air platforms sticking off the side for individual warehouses to take in and ship out whatever goods they wished - although now, their lights were dull and red, and traffic wound around and away from the building due to the ongoing lockdown.
The apex of the building was similarly industrial, block and uneven with the barest hint of typical Asari architectural curves along the outer walls. A squat, cramped administrative and security building had been erected on one corner of the irregularly shaped building, and sat surrounded by homeless shipping units and parked transporters. Their drivers milled about, talking to each other, eating, or napping in the quieter corners. The far corner from her landing pad, beside the administrative and security headquarters, was taken up by a large warehouse that rose up on the corner with towering, blinking pylons to warn off aircraft and prevent collisions.
It had a single large door, which was cordoned off my police holo-tape.
"Gee, wonder where the Justicar went…"
Shepard didn't respond, but she heard Penny giggle and smiled for it.
"Commander Shepard." She turned to a uniformed Asari as she approached the three of them and nodded, and the Asari did the same. Holding out her hand, she grimaced as her 'Tool flared to life. "Sorry, Commander, protocol…"
She was just about done being scanned by people, but Anaya had at least bothered to ask, so… "Go on."
A moment later, the Asari nodded, satisfied by the simple scan, and explained curtly but politely, "Justicar Samara arrived this morning. She came in to ask the on-duty morning officer some questions, but had begun investigating the landing here by the time I arrived. I was instructed not to interfere until her investigation turned violent."
"Violent?"
"She killed one of the guards, a woman I've known for years." Anaya explained simply and sharply, the barest hint of hurt and anger invading her voice before she schooled it. "Then another who tried to stop her, and after, she moved into the warehouse."
"Did she kill more of your men?"
"No." Anaya shook her head, "The upper floors, and the peak warehouse, are all rented, owned, and administered by the Eclipse mercenary corporation."
"Eclipse?"
Shepard grunted shortly before her Turian comrade could voice his displeasure and turned back to the detective, "Renting to Eclipse isn't exactly a bright idea, Detective."
"Not my choice." She shrugged, "I'm just the contracted detective running security here on behalf of Ilium."
"Contract?"
"Ilium's police unions hire out detectives and officers for security in certain fields, such as extra-planetary shipping, for planetary security." Anaya explained, "I work in Vice, or, well, I did before I was ordered onto contract for a decade. My job is to try and screen outgoing for drugs."
"Try?"
"I'm only allowed to search shipping canisters and warehouses, or quarters for workers, with concrete probable cause validated by headquarters." Anaya explained with a deep, but resigned, frown, "It's slow and inconvenient, but, well… This is Ilium."
"Mhm." Shepard frowned - she already hated Ilium - but ignored it and moved on. "Why did Samara kill the guards?"
"The second is the simplest, she tried to stop her and didn't back down. That means the Code demanded she die to be put out of the way." The Asari explained, crossed her arms and shook her head, "The first is… Complicated."
"How?"
"She was minding a murder suspect, Pitne For." Anaya explained, "Samara lashed out and killed her before she turned for the warehouses. Which makes no sense. Pitne For I would understand, I'm certain he killed his partner, evidence be damned, but Alasa? Her only crime was a lack of ambition."
"What do you mean?" Garrus asked, "Lack of ambition?"
"She's- She was, I mean, forty years older than I am." The Detective explained simply, "She should have had my rank, my job. It was offered to her, too. Twice, by my superiors and then by me when they came to me. She turned it down, stayed a grunt walking the same old patrol eight hours a day."
"The same…" Garrus speed up to her side as he murmured the words, then flicked her a knowing look before he turned to the Asari once more. "What was the route?"
"I don't remember, off the top." Anaya shrugged, brows knitting together in concern. "But it was only the top couple floors. Admin sectors mainly, solo-patrols."
"Shepard…"
"Mhm." She didn't need to know Garrus' thoughts - she had the same suspicions about the detective's dead guard. But for now, at least, that wasn't important. "With permission, Detective, we'd like to get our operation under way."
"By all means." Anaya nodded and smiled, "Please, don't let me stop you. And Goddess go with you, too."
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Finding the Justicar's path turned out to be painfully easy, one merely needed to follow the trail of splattered blood, bullet-riddled walls, and sparking electronics.
It must have been nice, not even having to pretend to be subtle…
The mercenary's corpses were absent, though, which did more than just unnerve him a little even if he knew for a fact that there was no way they were going to run across any Dragon's Teeth here on Ilium. More likely, the down-armored, hazard-painted industrial mechs standing quietly in little groups along the walls, backs hooked into charging ports, had gathered up the dead mercenaries and taken them somewhere out of the way. Why they'd done that, he didn't know, but it was more likely.
The rationalisation didn't calm Garrus' nerves at all, though…
Damn Reapers.
They spent just under an hour meandering through the warehouse's winding halls, clearing bunk-rooms, break-rooms and offices as they went. The three of them actually managed to find a handful of civilians hiding in the side-rooms, and once in a crate, and sent them back the way they'd come. But they didn't find a single breathing Mercenary anywhere, no matter how hard they looked.
Whoever Samara really was, she was ruthless when it came to these mercenaries.
"I just wonder if she's always this way." Shepard murmured, her voice buzzing in his ear and making him stiffen in surprise. Before he could aske, she chuckled and said, "You were mumbling again, Vakarian."
"A-Ah…"
"Does Friend Garrus do this often?"
"Only when he's nervous."
"Oh!" Penny squaked quietly, worriedly, "Do not be nervous, Friend Garrus! I will protect you."
"Uh huh…"
"I have point-projected particle lasers." She told him consolingly, "You may rest assured that I will protect you!"
Garrus wasn't really sure how comfortable he should be relying on a girl half his size to protect him, but… Well, he didn't have point-projected particle lasers. Or a metal skeleton, for that matter. And, hell, she was their assault lead right now. So he just rolled his eyes and shrugged it off with an amused little flick of his mandibles.
A canted look from Shepard told him she'd caught the gesture, though, and he sighed, "Shep, look-"
The electric crack and whump of a Biotic explosion ahead tore their attention away and sent Garrus sliding forward and into the limited cover a stack of crates left against the hallway wall offered. Penny's swords glinted as they spun into formation, green energy sparking at the edges of her blades. He flicked his head to the side when nothing came through the sealed door ahead, but only found an empty hallway.
A shimmer fractaled and sparked beside him and he felt a hand on his shoulder - two pats, 'Forward.'
He nodded and rose, pacing forward with his Vindicator locked on the door as another Biotic detonation split the air. He came to Penny's side and when she turned to him he nodded forward to pass the message. The Turian let her pace ahead, her hovering blade-formations bobbing forward and back as she walked and they sought a target, and he covered her for as little as she really needed it.
When she reached it, she palmed the door release and then turned, "It's locked."
"I can bypass it." Shepard's voice was right beside him and Garrus caught her cloak's shimmer as she rose and it disengaged in time with an echoing scream.
"How long?"
"Forty seconds."
"Too long." Penny said, stepping back and pulling her arms back and down. Her blades came down with them, spinning in front of her open palms as energy collected.
Green energy lanced out in two long, crackling bursts, carving up through the middle of the door from top to bottom and then from left to right. Metal bubbled and rolled down the front of the door, pooling, red-hot and cooling, on the floor at the woman's feet. A moment later, Penny's hands surged forward, fingers steepled to points, and the long, thin blades slid into the openings she'd made. One hand came up, the other came down, and both came back, yanking the blades with them and pulling the sectioned pieces of the door away with a scream of straining metal and a pop of shattering joints.
All in less than ten seconds…
Terrifying - and something that made him happy she was on their side.
"Debris." Penny warned before she ducked low and shot forward, impacting with the drab, grey and corrugated surface of a shipping container that she sent spinning away. She came down on the one that had been below it with her swords flashing at her side and parted it, then forced it to either side to make space.
"Absolutely terrifying…"
"That's what I was thinking." Garrus grunted, shaking his head. "She's gotta be the scariest thing I've seen in a while."
"She can also hear you…" Penny called over a shoulder, "And she does not like being described as 'scary'."
Beyond the door was a warehouse floor that had seen disaster. Fluorescent lights sparked and flickered weakly overhead, and sections of the floor had been burnt, blasted, and ripped up by Biotics, explosions or both. Shipping containers, boxes, and equipment had been hurled aside, piled against the walls and support columns along the edge of the room. Along with the shattered bodies of a dozen Eclipse mercenaries, twisted, broken and smeared across the walls, crates and crumpled working equipment.
And, in the center of it all, trailing Biotic power and wispy, reddish vapor, was an Asari in purple, bulkier armor than the Eclipse wore stood over a bloodied Asari in lighter red.
"Now who the hell are you fuckers?!" The Asari bellowed, wreathing a fist with a Biotic hue and hurling the downed Asari aside. Garrus saw Shepard's camouflage system flicker and fall again as she stepped up next to him and the Asari's scowl deepened, eyes feral and charged with electricity, "An N7 bitch? Goddess, I should have known sneaking that disgusting thing off-world was a bad move."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Shepard called out, flicking her head to the side in a silent order for Garrus to circle off to the side.
An order he obeyed, aware of the bright eyes watching him. Shepard slipped forward and behind Penny as a shield and turned to better use her, resting a hand on her shoulder. Penny didn't seem to mind the usage, standing taller and spreading her arms to help, her blade formations spinning over her shoulders.
"Oh you don't?"
"No." Shepard answered frankly, "I came here to recruit the Justicar for a mission. And I'm down here to put a stop to all of this."
"Well good news!" The woman laughed brightly and threw her hands up, staggering back almost drunkenly. "It's already ended. But, uh, bad news on the whole 'recruiting the Justicar' part… Poor bitch is almost dead!"
"Almost s is good enough for me."
"But not for me!" The woman shrieked, high on Red Sand and her own power trip. "The bitch wrecked my operation, killed forty or more of my people, and came for me when I had the nerve to try and stop her!"
Garrus flicked another look around the room and spotted half a dozen small bags of the drug she was staggering around on, ripped in places but full enough. Red Sand augmented Biotic power, he knew, but most of it was laced. And that meant it came with a dangerous, common side-effect - it could cause brain haemorrhages along with the drunkenness that the Eclipse captain was showing.
"I'll compensate you-"
"A billion creds for her life." When Shepard didn't respond the woman cackled, "No? Then fuck off. I'll teach her a lesson, then that fucking Volus, Pitne For. And you, too, if you fuck with me."
"Alright then…" Shepard slipped back as her cloak crackled to life, "Vakarian, get the target. Polendina, deal with her."
Penny shot forward like lightning, propelled so quickly by the lances of particle energy that even the high Asari flinched. Penny came down and spun, her blades dancing around her in a ring that forced the surprised woman back another step, but Garrus couldn't watch the fight continue. He turned and ran, his long, Turian legs carrying him around the edge of the room quickly while particle lasers hummed and Biotics cracked.
He slid to a knee beside the woman and rolled her over gently. Her face was bloodied, nose clearly broken and brow missing a chunk of flesh. A bloodied blue arm hung at her side, limp and obviously broken along with a leg whose foot faced entirely the wrong way. But she was still conscious, somehow, slurring something as he rolled her over.
"Sorry…?"
"S-Sand…"
"Yeah, we know." He grunted, using two units of Medi-Gel to sterilise and stabilise the Asari. "Don't worry we-"
"N-No." The Asari choked out, spitting a splash of blood and a tooth out on her shoulder. "She's… Dosed."
"Dosed…" He blinked and asked, sharply, "How dosed?"
"Almost enough." She grunted, "Just a little… Little more."
Garrus' mandibles clicked together as he processed her words and he looked up. A bag of Red Sand lay less than twenty feet away - but he couldn't leave her. Instead, he hissed into Shepard's direct comm-line.
"Commander," he snarled, "I have a plan. I need you for it, though."
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Penny bent back and to the side at the waist the way only she could to dodge a blue-wreathed shin coming towards her head. She sank to a knee and brought a hand down, blades spinning into particle-formation by her thigh and propelling her along the ground with a burst of green fire. Then she angled it down to launch herself up and turned it to spin her in mid air, bringing the rest of her blades around against the side of the woman's head with all the force her particle cannon and reinforced frame would allow.
The woman staggered away, trailing blue fire and wispy red vapors, but her barrier didn't even tremble.
"Bitch!" She spun on a heel and slammed a fist into Penny's stomach hard enough to hurt through her Aura and launch her away.
When Penny spun herself and brought her second formation of Floating Array around to stop her flight, the Asari sent a bright, unstable Warp sailing towards her as well. That caught her and burned, forcing her back another pace as Floating Array came around and spun, fanning the lingering Biotic charge away from herself. It worked, though the static charge of it clung uncomfortably to her arms.
But then Penny saw the flash of blue as the woman rocketed towards her, wreathed in Biotic fury.
The crazed woman slammed into her chest with her shoulder and threw her to the ground, and Penny cried out. She landed on the android's chest with both knees backed by her charge and her Aura flared and sparked dangerously. Stil she brought her hands up to either side, and Floating Array answered, spinning to life and searing lines of green energy along the woman's back with enough intensity to drag a snarling grunt out of the woman's clenched teeth.
She straightened and threw her amr south to either side, scattering Floating Array with a Biotic detonation and then bringing both her fists down into Penny's shoulders with the remaining charge.
"Tough little shit." The mercenary snarled as she stood, pressing a heel down on Penny's throat and grinning ferally. She brought a fist up with a whirling, unstable ball of fiery blue and smiled even more widely. "Good fight and a cute lil' bod, too. Live through this and, I tell you what, I'll let ya live. Chained up in my room!"
"I think not." Penny saw the Asari turn…
In time for a plastic bag to slam into her face and burst apart in a spray of red powder. The Asari choked and gagged, stumbling back as Penny scrambled away and propelled herself up onto her feet with Floating Array. Shepard, cloak sparking and fading as the smoke trailed around her, came forward and brought her hand up, Omni-Tool glowing brightly. A faint spark danced across her fingers before the Asari screamed, staggering back and trailing lighting while she clutched at her head.
"Red Sand is taken by charging it with electricity and injecting it layered in some kind of liquid, or inhaling it in mass freely." Shepard explained as the woman collapsed, spasming and rolling on the ground. "But the dosages are different. To get the high and power off the dust form, you need more. Much more."
"When you take the dust form, though, you need to avoid electricity." She went on, casually drawing her sidearm and levelling it on the one. It cracked twice and the Asari lay still. Then she holstered the weapon and turned, "Or the discharge will carry through and cascade your Biotics through your body. Painful, and lethal, after a few minutes of agony."
"So I see…" Penny murmured as she lowered her weapons. "A mercy, then."
"Not one she deserved." Shepard grunted, though she didn't explain why she'd done it if that was her belief. Instead she pressed a finger to her Omni-Tool and relayed, "Detective Anaya, Shepard. We need medical for the Justicar."
"Medical for a Justicar?!"
"Wear hazmats." She counselled her, "And call in a cleaning crew. There's Red Sand in the air - and exposed electricity."
"Goddesss…" The woman's voice echoed from the 'Tool. "We're en route."
Shepard only nodded, ended the call and turned to Penny. After a moment, she leaned over and dusted some of the drug off Penny's shoulder. Then she paced away without another word.
"I take it back." Garrus grumbled as he stepped up beside her, "Shepard is scarier than you are, easy."
Penny was inclined to agree…
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Red Sand, in the lore, is ridiculous. And to make it clear here, that ridiculous power-up is half of why Penny struggled against her. The other half is surprise - Penny knows what Asari are generally capable of. Wasea, amped to hell and back, exceeded that, surprised her and Samara before her, and that gave her the upper hand. If Penny had expected that, she would have engaged differently and been far Wasea's superior.
Just to be clear, before I have to deal with complaints about 'nerfs'.
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Dri Killinger :
I am quite enjoying Zaeed myself, too! He's just fun.
Sebine :
Oml - Also that, yes.
The Prime Cronos :
That was… Honestly something that never gelled with me. Like, Shepard knows the Reapers are coming. Every man, woman and enbie that can use a rifle will be needed. The more experienced the better.
But she just MASSACRE'S the Terminus' mercs? Like, I get it, they're criminals - but come the war, we're pointing those mercs at the Reapers! More would be nice, no?
Also, Pyrrha ain't the type to just kill wide-scale.
The Right Price :
*sighs* This is one myth about this show that I am genuinely fatigued by, so sorry if I sound scuffed here. It's not aimed at you.
RWBY doesn't contradict its rules about Aura at all, you just have to think critically about what is being said, shown, and what is happening - many 'critics' don't engage in this. Instead, they formed a fanon in V1 with Pyrrha's basic explanation, and held it as gospel. Then, when the show expanded upon it, they screamed.
Aura is like a shield, you can think of an Elite. It must be raised to protect you. The only difference is it must be maintained. But like anything, it's muscle memory. Once you're conditioned, it becomes automatic - like a mediaeval soldier raising a mediaeval shield and holding it right. THAT is all Oscar was learning, muscle memory, like how to hold yourself in a fight.
In this fic, Garrus is Oscar - just getting the muscle memory.
And as for Weiss being conked out but her Aura healing her… It actually wasn't. JAUNE'S was. He was pumping Aura INTO her, which healed her until she woke up and her own kicked in to help. That's his Semblance, and Semblances can do whatever they wish. Prior to his intervention, she just lay there bleeding out.
RWBY's issue is that it doesn't explain everything in detail, they try to be subtle. So people assume things, and then that ends up being wrong, and they call that a contradiction.