Zrocker119: Well I think it's safe to say that it has been a very long time since I last posted a chapter for this story and a lot of shit has happened since. I would've loved to have this out sooner, like months ago, but some familial issues arose, and now we've got this whole pandemic thing going on.
On a higher note, DOOM ETERNAL is out...and holy FUCK is it awesome! The movement, weapons, sound track and the environments! The last game that got me feeling that fucking badass was DMC 5 and that was my game of the year for 2019! Now that I think about it, both games involved butchering Hell spawn. Coincidence? I think not!
Anyway, we learned a whole lot of new information regarding the Doomslayer and his past with this new installment. Like, a lot of information. Thankfully there isn't too much I need to change further down the line for this story.
Speaking of this story, I didn't have a proofreader for this chapter so if there's any typos there's no one to blame but myself. Even though I've been writing for years now, shit just keeps slipping past me.
-DOOM Effect: V2-
-Chapter 4-
Start
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"How do you want to handle this?"
Garrus eyed C-sec's newest detective. Cosna had only been with the force for little more than a week and hadn't really got the chance to do anything else other than paper work. After a moment tought, Garrus gestured for to newest recruit to stay outside the room.
"I'll take this one," Though he didn't show it, Garrus could tell that Cosna was relieved. The younger Turian gave a sharp nod before heading over to observe through the one-way mirror.
Once he was in position Garrus double checked the data slate before heading into the room. The room was very spartan, with only a single table and two chairs. Seated in one of said chairs was a woman of cacassion descent with long brown hair.
Name: Annett Hampson
Age: 37
Current Relations: Recently widowed, having lost her husband in a Batarian slave raid. Only remaining family lived on earth.
Garrus bit back a sigh. Cases like this one were popping up more often than the veteran detective was comfortable with. "Ms. Hampson, I'm detective Vakarian. Just need to ask you a few questions and we'll have you out of here in no time."
"I-I understand." Garrus could tell that the experience she suffered through had left its mark. Not wanting to cause her further stress he continued in order to get this done as soon as possible.
"From what we have on file, you and your husband were visiting family when the colony came under attack."
"Friends actually." She interrupted, "Jack's friends from his time in the Navy were stationed there. We-we were just getting dinner ready when the sirens went off."
Garrus nodded, making a quick note to see if there were any from the Alliance Navy that survived. Testimonies from professional soldiers tended to prove invaluable when compared to traumatized civilians.
"You were captured and held captive for two standard galactic days, when the ship suddenly lost power. Can you tell me what happened after that?"
Annett took a moment to collect herself, trying to remain calm as she recalled what she could remember of those terrifying days. "I-I remember being in trapped in the cargo hold, locked in cages. They had captured so many of us that it was hard to move without pushing against somebody."
"The ones watching over us were," Her voice cracked as her emotions bled through. "They were taking bets about how much we would be worth and if they'd get a chance to sample us. It was shortly after that when the lights went out. It was dark for a few moments before the emergency lights came on. The guards were seemed confused. Arguing with one another about what was happening. Then someone spoke over the intercom, ordering all the slavers to surrender."
"Can you describe the voice?"
"It sounded like a man, but it was like he was speaking through a filter of some kind. They were very soft spoken though, polite even."
"Kind of unusual when you're demanding an entire slaving vessel to surrender." Garrus made a note before motioning for her to continue.
"I thought so afterwards as well, but at the time I was just glad that someone had come to rescue us, thinking it was the Alliance."
"But it wasn't."
"No," She shook her head. "What happened to those slavers, was something that the Alliance, despite how much they hate slavery, would never condone to an enemy. They put the Butcher of Torfan to shame"
Garrus looked at the data of the incident that was available to him. "There were no bodies found on the ship. Every single slaver that was registered in the ships logs was missing. What happened to them all?"
"He tore them apart." Annett spoke quietly, "One at a time. If it wasn't his guns, then he did it with his bare hands. I saw him bury his thumbs into a Batarian's eyes and rip him in two. He had been so fast about it. Too fast for someone of his size. He was in a full, heavy kit and from what I saw it didn't even slow the man down. Once he was done, he dragged the remains away. I think he spaced them."
Garrus took some more notes. While he wanted to believe that this man being capable of ripping fully kitted out Batarina's with his bare hands as nothing more than an exaggeration on Ms. Hampson's part, the testimonies from over a dozen other witnesses said otherwise. "So you believe it was a man."
"One almost as large and as strong as a Krogan." She shuddered at the memory of the attack. None of the slavers had stood a chance. He had been brutal and utterly without mercy in his assault. Never before had she bore witness to such carnage.
"Was this the same man that spoke over the intercom?"
"No," She answered without hesitation. "His voice was rough, like sandpaper, but not unkind. Once the ship had been cleared, he gave every single one of us a medical scan to make sure that there was no internal damage from the Batarian's rough treatment of us. He was especial gentle with the few children that were present."
"I see." From there Garrus continued to question her, gaining more and more insight as to what kind of investigation that he would be dealing with. Another twenty minutes passed before he finally walked Ms. Hampson out of the room, wishing her well.
Garrus always hated talking with victims of slavers, because no matter how many reports he read, it was impossible for the Turian to understand just what they had been forced to go through as he had never experienced what they had first hand.
It was the same with all the victims of crimes that he had to interview.
"So what do you think?" Garrus turned to see Executor Pallin approaching.
"Everything matches," Garrus showed his superior the latest information that he had managed to gather for the case. "This is the eighth slaving operation that has been hit in the last year. While their approach varies, the results are always the same. Complete and utter annihilation of the slavers, with no civilian casualties."
"I still don't believe that these attacks are carried out by just one human and an unknown tech expert." Pallin all but growled, looking through the data that had been gathered thus far. "Even Spectres need entire crews for ops like these. It just seems to good to be true. Then there's the reports considering their weaponry and technology."
That was something that shook Garrus. They had hundreds of eye-witness reports of this unknown teleporting, teleporting weapons in an out of their hands. Teleportation technology was something that every spacefaring race had dreamed of accomplishing at one point or another. But upon discovering Mass Effect technology, their was just no conceivable way for it to be done.
At least, that was until this unknown came and spat on everything that thousands of years and trillions of credits of scientific endeavors deemed impossible. But Garrus tried not to put too much thought into it all as it was way above his pay grade.
Let the egg heads try and figure that one out.
"While I don't like the method, you can't argue with the results."
"Careful with that sort of thinking Vakarian," Pallin spoke in a warning tone. "Despite what they've done, these individuals are dangerous. To the galaxy and themselves."
Garrus' eyes flicked back to the report. In this the two were in agreement. He didn't want to imagine the kind of carnage this group would leave in their wake should they decide that slavers were no longer worth their time.
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The sound of clicking heels echo down the corridor of the quieter section of Omega. Such places were once a rarity on the criminal infested space station, but things had changed over the last couple of months.
While the station as a whole largely remained unchanged, this section in particular had become somewhat of a beacon for those that wanted to clean themselves up. Oh the place was far from the perfect haven that many that had fled from Council controlled space sought, but it was certainly better than the alternatives. And that was due to one simple word.
Security.
The security provided for those that lived in this section was rivaled by Aria's own protection detail and those that were caught stealing, pedaling drugs or dealt in the slave trade were dealt with accordingly.
What confounded Liselle though, was that despite all of these changes, her mother was still somehow about to turning a profit from this sector. More than they had ever been.
When Liselle questioned her mother about what had caused this sudden and abrupt change, Aria had given her a look that she hadn't seen since she was still considered a child by their people. Like she wasn't one of the top agents on the station, but instead a confused girl still being told that she was just too young to understand.
She hated that look. Hated it with a burning passion. Liselle had been about to walk away when her mother suggested that she come to this section and ask around for a man called The Slayer.
Those words caused the daughter of Aria to pause.
Liselle had been off station for some time, but she had heard the stories.
Entire crews that were transporting slaves, being boarded and slaughtered by a single human?
What a joke.
In her mind, it was simply an impossibility. Nobody, regardless of species, could pull off these ludicrous claims.
Those thoughts were discarded the moment her mother ordered her to seek the Slayer out. Despite being her remaining blood relative, Liselle knew better than to second guess her mother. Doing so would incite consequences that no one wanted to face.
So she did as she was told, just like she had always done.
Well...baring a few cases at least. She had been an Asari maiden at one point in her life after all.
Anyway she could do nothing but carry forward, her path unobstructed by the denizens of the station. It paid to be the daughter of the infamous Queen of Omega. With such conditions, it had only taken Liselle all of ten minutes to reach her destination.
The first thing she noticed was the people.
While many still kept a vigilant eye out for those that would do them harm, Liselle could tell that those that she passed were much more at ease than anywhere else on the station. Given the heavily armed and armored guards that she saw out of the corner of her eye, Liselle couldn't really blame them for lowering their guard just a bit.
While a majority of the people that filled the streets were human, there was the occasional Asari and Turian. She even spotted a young Quarian browsing the markets. All without looking over their shoulders every few seconds to make sure that they weren't getting rob, stabbed or anything in between. It was a surreal experience for her.
After several moments of just staring off into the crowd, Liselle remembered her purpose for coming here. After questioning one of the guards she was pointed in the direction of the residential apartments.
Approaching the main complex she was greeted by the sight of the largest human that she had ever seen. His choice of clothes, being simple blue jeans, boots, a shirt and hooded jacket did little to hide the muscles that composed his body.
"Are you sure that you don't want to come inside?" Asked the human woman the man was currently speaking with, "A warm meal is the least that I could do for you."
"I appreciate the offer Ms. Diana, but I'm afraid that I have to decline." From where she was standing, Liselle could see that the woman was a bit disappointed at her offer being turned down.
"I understand," Diana gave the man a kind smile. "Once again though, thank you for bringing me and my daughter here. I'm not sure what we would have done had Nef and I went back to Alliance space after losing everything."
The man placed a comforting hand on Diana's shoulder. "The only thing you can do is make sure that your daughter is safe. That's all that matters." Having said everything that needed to be, the man bid the mother and daughter duo a good day, with the young teen waving shyly.
Liselle waited until the two had disappeared into the complex before approaching the man. "Seems like someone's got a fan."
"I'm more used to people keeping their distance, but it's a nice change of pace." He turned around and Liselle finally got a good look at his face and she had to admit, he was handsome. In a rugged sort of way. His eyes were very striking. "Any particular reason why Aria's daughter is walking around these parts?"
She frowned at that. "If you know who I am, then you should know better than to take that sort of tone with me."
All he did was give her an unimpressed stare. "Do I strike you as the type of man that gives a damn about something as pointless as status?"
Liselle gave the man a hard stare that had reduced lesser men into a fidgeting mess. This man thought didn't so much as flinch. That made the Asari smirk.
"I can't tell you how refreshing it is to meet someone that knows who I am and doesn't immediately try to kiss my ass." She just might get along with this man, but she had to get back to the task at hand. "As much as I would like to invite you for a drink, I'm looking for The Slayer. Guards pointed me this way."
"You're looking at him. But since we'll probably be seeing more of each other, just call me Alex."
That actually got a reaction out of Liselle. "You're the Slayer?"
He crossed his arms and gave her a flat look. "Not quite what you were expecting was I? We can get Aria to confirm if you'd like, but I get the impression that she'd be more than a bit annoyed at us interrupting her schedule."
The Asari maiden rubbed the bridge of her nose. "That fact that you're speaking so casually about meeting with my mother is more than enough for me to believe you."She gave him an inquisitive look. "So is Slayer actually your name or just a title?"
"Yes."
A few moments passed by before Liselle realized that was all Alex was going to say on the matter. "Well then," She shifted her stance so that she could rest a hand on her hip. "If you're not doing anything at the moment, how about that drink I mentioned. I'm just dying to know what you did in order for my mother to give you control over this part of the station."
Alex said nothing for a moment before tilting his head slightly, as if listening to something. Upon closer inspection, Liselle noticed that he was wearing an earpiece.
"Alright then," he finally spoke. "As long as the bartender doesn't poison me this time."
She cocked a brow at his choice of words. "You mean tried to poison you right?" Upon receiving a blank stare and silence she realized that he wasn't joking. "Which bartender was it?"
"Doesn't matter. When I left, some poor bastard was stuck cleaning his brain matter off the counter." Alex walked in the direction she came from and motioned for her to follow. "Apparently he didn't like humans all that much."
...Oh, Liselle could tell very quickly that she was going to get along with this man.
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It had been little more than a year since his arrival in this universe and while Alex had managed to severely cripple slaving operations for the Batarian Hegemony in this part of space, the time table he was working on was progressing much slower than he would've liked it to be.
Watching after the little slice of Omega that Aria had put him in charge of helped to keep him occupied during the brief pauses between his raids but he knew that he couldn't keep this up for much longer.
No that wasn't quite right. Alex could keep up his one man crusade against the Hegemony until they ran out of bodies to throw at him, but he knew that his activities were bound to draw the gaze of groups whose radars he would prefer to stay off of. The two main ones of course being the Council and Cerberus.
He would have to deal with both groups eventually, but when he did, it would be on his terms.
"Pardon the intrusion Alex," The voice of his faithful companion brought the Slayer out of his thoughts, "but I believed it was necessary to inform you that there's a squad of heavily armed mercenaries converging on your location."
Alex grunted in response, walking to the other side of his workshop and grabbed the gun laid out on the workbench.
It bears a similar enough appearance to the Energy Pistol that used to always be holstered at his right hip, but was roughly fifty percent bigger, mostly black with a few silver bits here and there, and had a red energy core instead of the standard blue.
Alex quite fondly thought of the EMG Mark V Pistol as the older, edge crazed brother to the standard EMG sidearm. It had a much slower rate of fire when compared to the original model, but with a 500% increase to energy output of each shot, a number that reached even higher heights when charged, he believed that he had made the right choice when he asked VEGA to upgrade his sidearm.
Alex had even carved the letters BFP into the side of the weapon to personalize it and made sure that it was coded to his genetic signature on the off chance it was misplaced. And on the even slimmer chance that it was stolen and someone tried to reverse engineer it, the built in self destruct would activate, overloading the core, destroying the weapon and everything else within a three meter radius.
Strapping the pistol to his hip, Alex threw on his jacket.
"What group are we looking at?" During his stay in the criminal underbelly, Alex had in some way or another pissed off the key mercenary factions. Turns out that they didn't take too kindly of him cleaning up the place. Go figure.
The nearest monitor lit up to show the camera feed from outside his private warehouse where him and VEGA conducted most of their operations from.
"Eclipse." The forms of about a dozen or so of said mercenaries could be seen cautiously moving through the district and towards his position. "This would appear to be an exploratory force. From the comms chatter that I'm picking up, they plan to draw you out into the open and catch you between multiple overlapping lanes of fire."
"Ah, they have a heavy mech." Alex noted, expressing some interest in the heavy duty weapon of war. Probably wouldn't hurt to get their hands on one of those. He'd have to be careful not to damage it too badly.
"Any civilians in the area?" With a subtle distortion of space, he was wearing his suit and wielding the Super Shotgun, snapping it shut once it was loaded with fresh shells.
"There were a few warehouse workers present, but I took the liberty of paying them a substantial sum of credits to vacate the area for the rest of the evening. I've also prepared a message for Ms. t'loak. Would you like me to send it now?"
"Tell her to prepare a clean up crew. I'll foot the bill."
"Sending the message now."
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Aria kicked her head back and knocked down another shot. After receiving a message about the upcoming slaughter, the Asari warlord decided that it was a good time to crack open one of the bottles from the top shelf.
This wasn't the first time that a major gang had attempted to ambush the Slayer when he was on station. She had even known about it beforehand, just like all the others that came before. Very little happened on Omega without her knowing.
Alex was most likely aware that she had prior knowledge of these attempts on his life. In fact she would be willing to bet a large sum of credits on it. Aria wasn't worried about retaliation from the rouge powerhouse though. He would probably just thank her for all the new weapons and tech that he would no doubt loot from the aftermath.
His straightforwardness was one of the qualities that Aria actually enjoyed about their admittedly strange relationship. Even though he was more than capable of maneuvering through all the political niceties, Alex always skipped straight to the point, cutting through all of the bullshit.
He was a man of few words, allowing his actions to speak for him. And by the Goddess did they speak. The following that he had amassed in the relatively short amount of time that he had been on the station was staggering. The little slice that she had gifted to him was bringing in more business than she thought was possible for this part of space.
From a strictly legal standpoint that is.
The admittedly few legal operations that Aria herself ran, the Afterlife club being the prime example, couldn't even hold a candle to what Alex had managed to create. If it were to have been anybody else, the ruler of Omega would've had them taken care of and ejected into space long ago.
Only Aria was aware that it was entirely unnecessary to worry about being overthrown, as Alex had made it clear from day one of what his intentions were. His sole focus was on the preparation for the day of the Reapers arrival.
Not to play king of the station if she correctly recalled his words correctly.
The mere thought of those monstrosities brought a look of uncertainty to her face. Despite what he had shown her on their first meeting, Aria still wasn't entirely convinced of their existence and had told him this.
But despite how long ago that conversation was, his response still sent a shiver down her spine.
"Whether you believe the information that I have revealed to you is irrelevant." His piercing, red gaze all but stripped away her flesh and bone, as if he was staring straight into her very being. "In five years time, six if we're lucky, the Reapers will announce their arrival regardless of what you or the Council want. The only question is whether or not you'll be ready to face the storm head on...or simply be swept away."
The absolute certainty in which he had said those words had a resounding effect on Aria, shaking her to her very core.
She wished, no, wanted to believe that the Slayer was just batshit insane. That everything that he had told her was nothing but a fabrication to incite fear within her. But deep down, Aria knew that he spoke nothing but the cold, hard truth.
Shaking her head, she took a sizable sip from her drink. It didn't do much to soothe her nerves. Her omni tool lighting up stole her attention. A flick of the wrist was all it took to open the message. Reading its contents Aria let out a sigh.
Looks like the source of her stress needed to speak with her. Apparently it was urgent. Aria didn't quite feel like leaving her personal retreat at the moment, so she sent him the address.
Last time she gave away her personal address, it didn't end well for the other party. The look on the man's face when he realized that he wasn't going to be knocking hips with Omega's Queen had been priceless. Couldn't quite keep his hands to himself that one.
In any chase, Aria was certain that this visit wouldn't end with her shoving Alex out an airlock for having grabby hands. From how her daughter had spoken about the times she had spent with the man, there was no shortage of women, and men, that had invited him somewhere private for more pleasurable activities.
Liselle had admitted to being among those that had attempted such a thing, only for her advances to be politely, if bluntly, turned down.
If anything this made Aria respect the man even more. It took absurd levels of self control and dedication that, quite frankly, she didn't think any male was capable of. Not the ones she usually dealt with anyway.
It wasn't too long before there was a knock at the door. Disengaging the lock, she aloud Alex entry into her private abode, idly noting that he was wearing that curious armor of his sans helmet.
"I'll be leaving the station shortly."
Aria blinked in surprise, a very human-like response. "Found another slaving crew already?" It hadn't even been a week. It normally took him a month at least before he found a new target to keep himself occupied with.
"No," He sat directly across from her now, "I mean for the foreseeable future. A friend of mine has been monitoring comms traffic and the like for some time now, noting that the number of attempts on my life have increased three fold in the last two months."
"You're running," she asked incredulously.
Even though his face didn't so much as twitch, Aria could see the slightest signs of annoyance in his gaze. "No," he deadpanned, "While the amount of funds and tech I will gain from simply slaughtering everyone that gets sent my way, the rising body count will eventually draw the gaze of those that I would prefer to keep out of for the time being."
"The Council."
"Amongst others." He nodded, "But should they grow curious, I think we can both agree on not turning Omega into a war zone."
He was right. Despite how boring things around the station had become over the last fifteen months, the quietness had grown on her. And while she liked an adrenaline rush as much as the next person, Aria didn't wish to have her station become a battle ground.
Well even more so than it already was anyway.
"So what will you do then?" Aria took a sip from her drink, folding one leg over the other with deliberate slowness. The action didn't so much shift his gaze. At this rate she was beginning to think that not everything was functioning at peak efficiency below the Slayers waist.
"Somethings been set up for me, but it won't be ready for a few more months. In the meantime I'll be heading to the Citadel."
She arcs a ridge at that. "And what about your little pet project that you've got going on here? A lot of people are going to notice your absence."
"I'm leaving that to your daughter." He stood, "She has been seen around me quite often when I do my rounds, so the people know that I trust her judgement. Plus, and I don't mean to offend when I say this, she does have a more gentle approach to things than you…unless push comes to shove that is, then all bets are off."
'Well he isn't wrong there.' She thought with a smirk. Liselle may be soft when compared to Aria, but she was still her daughter and knew not to take shit from anyone. The place would be in good hands. "Things will continue on as they are. On that you have my word."
"I know it will be. I may not like how you sometimes conduct business Aria, But I know that you aren't one to throw credits away." Materializing his helmet, Alex sealed it in place and took his leave. "Until we meet again."
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-End-
Zrocker119: Sorry for the lack of action in this chapter, but as you can see I mainly focused on perspectives other an Alex's. Let me know how well you thought I did in the review section. I'll make no promises about having the next chapter out quicker, but know this. If there's one thing you all can count on, it's that I will never abandon this story.
Stay safe an health out there. Until the next chapter!