Having long since been accustomed to the cries of a child when it wanted… anything truthfully; Ayita was unbothered by the wails of terror and fear from the baby Humrian in her arms, mainly focusing on avoiding the deadly accurate shots of the Assassins even as she wove in and out of the many cloning tubes and support pillars.
The group's main priority was to get the hell out of the chamber and gain room to maneuver.
Of course, holding a baby was rather encumbering, and Ayita was the groups best fighter besides Miranda; so the choice was a simple one. Taking cover behind one of the pillars, she took a breath and wiggled her fingers in front of the infant's face; "Sleep…" She whispered, and immediately the infant Human-Quarian hybrid stopped crying to yawn deeply, before falling asleep in her arms.
"JULI!" She snapped loudly, no longer worrying herself over scaring the child or waking it up; and she quickly lashed out with a bolt at an Assassin that was locked in hand to hand combat with the Vortal Medic.
The Assassin fell dead and twitching as the electricity burned its way out of her; and Ayita sprinted over to the Quarian woman. "Are you alright?" She asked.
"I am alright." Juli replied, looking unsure if she should be grateful or distrusting.
Ignoring the Quarians internal debate, Ayita shoved the naked, sleeping Humrian infant into the medics arms; "Take him, and stay close to Lan; Cato, Miranda, and myself will deal with Lawson, Core, and the Assassins." she ordered.
She didn't bother waiting for a response from the stunned Quarian, as she took the opportunity to jump up onto one of the many catwalks; then raising her hands as they glowing bright green, she slammed them down onto the metal rails. The group of Assassins that had been shooting down on them collectively froze as the electricity traveling through the metal they stood on locked their limbs in place; and a wolfish grin crossed Ayita's face.
Not even bothering with words, she lashed out and the bolts of energy traveled through the Assassins and killed them all with no effort at all.
BZZT!
Ayita reflexively ducked as she felt a blade slash through the air where her head had been only moments before; and on instinct she drew her M1917 Bayonet, enhanced with a black plasma blade, and she got into place just in time for the energy stick to crash into the blade.
Ayita staggered backwards even as the white clothed Assassin continued to wail away at the Vortal woman. She seemingly ignored the dent in her helmet and the crack in her visor, focusing more on forcing Ayita back with every blow; even ignoring how her own blade seemed to be turning orange from the heat of the plasma blade with every passing second.
A firmly planted kick sent Ayita flying down the catwalk, landing on her back; even as the white armored assassin launched herself forward to finish her off. Ayita used her powers, but to her horror the Assassin only stumbled slightly before regaining her momentum; and she was only barely able to get her blade up in time again to block the killing blow that would have bisected her.
Stumbling back and this time moving the catwalk to buy herself time and some room to breath; Ayita managed to get a little bit of distance as the Assassin stumbled slightly before regaining her footing. But to Ayita's surprise, the Assassin didn't launch herself at her, only watching her as she kept her guard up and settled into a fighting stance.
"So… you're her little bitch." The Assassin started, and Ayita frowned in confusion.
"What-" She yelped as the Assassin struck again in a series of furious blows; most of which she only barely managed to avoid or block. If her Vortal abilities hadn't enhanced her body and senses, Ayita knew for absolute certainty that she would be dead many times over.
As it was, she was barely keeping up with the Assassin, and she got the distinct impression that she was being toyed with. Add to that, that the Assassin's armor seemed to ablate an alarming amount of the Vortal power directed at her, and Ayita was hard pressed to find enough advantage to do more than stay on her feet. She needed to regain her center; she needed a moment...
She needed The Moment! Ayita managed to buy herself time and distance with a hip throw. As expected, the Assassin flowed with the throw, but it allowed Ayita a second to turn her mind towards her family: on Cato and Ori, on her father and her sister and mother-in-law. She drew on the calm they could instill in her even in the harshest of times, and the Assassin's tumble slowed to a mid air drift.
Ayita knew that she wouldn't be able to launch any Vortal attacks while in this state, but her enhancements were still going quite strong. She rushed forward and smashed a kick into the floating woman's head, shattering the helmet completely and launching her at the nearby wall. The killer slammed into it like someone moving through water, and Ayita finally got a good look at her opponent's face.
She had a lot of Miranda's features, but only some of them; her hair was honey blonde, her eyebrows were more perked, her lips fuller, her face more tanned.
Dr. Core… She realized.
Ayita spared no time since she could feel the Moment slipping. She rushed up and began pummeling the Assassin as hard and as fast as she could, until she noticed sickly blue lines tracing their way over Eva's face faster and faster, even as her veins bulged and several capillaries burst in her neck. Ayita's last punch was intercepted, and Eva smashed her own fist full force and full speed into Ayita's chest.
The Vortal stumbled back and forced her heart to restart as the Moment finally passed. Doctor Core blurred towards her with unnatural speed, though she left a trail of blood and the stink of scorched flesh in her wake as she raised her blade for the killing blow.
Ayita closed her eyes and waited for death, but to her shock, the sound of her Plasma blade clashed with the ectro-staff. Ayita opened her eyes again and saw Miranda standing in front of her; holding Ayita's dropped sword in her hands, glaring at the white suited Assassin.
"I didn't expect my biological progenitor to resort to cybernetics to keep up with others; I thought you said that biology trumps all." Miranda said coldly, not even looking at Ayita as the Vortal woman slowly forced herself to her feet.
"All's fair in war M-91811441." The woman replied with a sneer.
Ayita saw the bait as Miranda tensed, and she shouted, "Miri NO!"
The former Assassin launched herself forward with a shriek of fury, "MY!" She slammed the plasma blade down on the electro-spear, a flash of sparks emitting from it. "NAME!" She slashed downward, and Core took a step back with a blank expression; but Ayita could see the tiniest smile start to cross her face. "IS!" She slashed the air as Core rolled backward, but Miranda was undeterred.
She leaped forward with a stab towards Cores heart. "MIRANDA!" She screamed, and Ayita could see the motion happening, and before she could stop it; Core stepped into the blow and forced Miranda's sword arm downward.
Ayita screamed in horror, drawing the others attention, as Core forced the plasma blade up and sliced Miranda's arm clean off.
Core just smirked as Miranda froze in place, and just shook her head. "Humanity is a weakness." she sneered, then she gasped and staggered backwards.
Ayita's eyes widened as she saw the knife, a large K-Bar, sticking right out of Cores chest; and Miranda grabbed a hold of the handle and kicked Eva core backward, keeping a hold of the knife and sending a spray of blood all over the place as it tore the Assassin commanders insides to shreds as it was withdrawn.
Ayita started towards the former Assassin when Miri shot her a vicious glare. "It's a clean cut, I won't bleed out; just finish her before her implants put her guts back together!"
Ayita nodded and picked her bayonet up. She didn't want to get any closer to Core than she needed, but then she didn't have to now. With the precision that only an enhanced person could express, she hurled the blade into the wound in Doctor Core's side. Eva grabbed the handle after it had sunk all the way in and started pulling, when Ayita mustered all the strength she could and launched a continuous stream of green lightning at the protruding weapon. The antique conducted the Vortal power past Eva's armor and directly into her abdomen. Ayita didn't stop until seconds after Eva stopped screaming.
Miri just watched for a moment, and nodded; "Good… good…" She whispered, then she collapsed and fell to the floor unconscious. Ayita quickly caught her, and frantically looked around to make sure that no other Combine troops or Assassins were nearby to finish her friend off.
"LAN! 'SAEZU! Get up here now!" She bellowed, and she heard three sets of footsteps; and she saw all three stop at the sight that greeted them. "Cato! Are there any more Assassins?!" She snapped.
He flinched and seemed to come back to himself, "N-no! All of them are dead, but Lawson is getting away with a small contingent of Elites." He replied, slipping back into his war mindset.
Nodding, she stood and pointed to Juli, who still held the Humrian child; "Give him to Lan and tend to Ms. Chambers; Lan you will stay here and defend the three of them." She ordered.
"We still have Lawson to deal with." Lan protested.
Ayita fixed him a stern glare, and the Quarian shuddered; despite her young age, she had long perfected 'The Mom Stare' thanks to Ori, and the Quarian knew that the woman was in no mood to be questioned. "You two will help Miri and watch the child; my husband and I will deal with Lawson." She spat furiously.
Lan and Juli just nodded, and the two sprinted off; determined to kill the mad scientist once and for all.
"SCATTER!" Shepard and Palla bellowed in unison, and the rebels and Expeditionaries did just that.
The Gonarch charged through the building, and the area they had just been standing on collapsed on top of the giant creature; but the Xenian predator just roared in fury as its prey ran out of its reach. The top of its body opened and launched a glob of pulsating green… something…
The glob landed in the midst of a group of rebels, and the men tried to run; but the glob exploded in a wave of acid, and the men were vaporized in an instant. Palla for her part was just trying not to trip, because she was fairly certain she would either be trampled or left behind. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" She screamed.
FWOOSH!
A laser guided RPG sailed over her head and struck the beast right in its giant gonad, and the beast did stumble slightly; then it roared and took off after the poor rebel who'd fired the weapon.
Palla looked at Shepard. "How in the Name of the Pillars do you kill this thing?!"
Adrian glanced around at the chaos. "I don't know! I never stuck around long enough to try!"
That was not the answer she wanted. It was one she could whole-heartedly agree with, but in this instance they needed to kill it. She looked round her surroundings for any advantage. "Well how did that Freeman guy kill it?! He did it on his own!" She exclaimed.
Shepard's eyes flashed in realization, "I don't know, but I know someone who might!" He shouted, before tapping her on the shoulder. "Keep it distracted, I'm going to the Commander!"
"For what?!" She demanded, even as she grabbed a fallen Combine Overwatch Pulse Rifle; as she had lost her Garand in the chaos.
"I'm gonna see if a friend of Freeman's over in the east has the Orange Ice Pops helmet footage; the guy had the suit, he should know how the guy beat it." He replied, before dashing off into the crowd.
"Great." She muttered, before pulling up her radio. "1st Platoon, this is Sergeant Fenneba. Commands working out a way to kill this thing, until then we lead it on a merry chase away from the Civilian evacuation areas and our own lines. Got it?!"
She received a round of "YESSIR!" from her troops. She keyed up the command link to the other squad leaders. "Sapius! Any ideas?"
"Yes, that we don't get paid nearly enough!" There was a short burst of gunfire and the scream of the Xenian nightmare. "Short of dropping a building on this thing, we don't have anything that will hurt it!"
Palla gave a grimm smirk. "Then that's what we do! Get Doyle and 'Ooray to rig up the spire across the street to come down; the rest of us will keep it busy!" She switched over to the master channel. "All units, keep it distracted! By fire-Teams, aim for the dangly bit then run. Once Sapius signals we lead it towards the building with the spire. How copy?"
There was another round of "YESSIR!" and one by one, the fire-Teams began harassing the Gonarch. It took five minutes for the Sappers to rig the building, and they did lose one Marine to the Gonarch's wrath. But finally Sapius gave the signal.
"All units, corral it now!"
The rebels had formed a loose perimeter and distracted the beast by firing at it from all sides As it spun like a top trying to decide who to bombard, Palla and her squad moved under the overhang beneath the spire. "Open fire!"
The concentrated fire drew the beast's attention, and Palla saw it brace for a charge. "Now! Move it!" Everyone ceased firing and scattered to either side and the Gonarch rushed into the steel framed glass doors. As it raged at missing it's prey, a series of explosions rocked the front of the building and dropped the overhang and spire on top of it.
Knowing that it wasn't done by a longshot, the platoon scattered; while Palla and Sapius picked their way through the rubble. For whatever reason, this one wasn't endlessly dropping those disgusting Head-Crab things, though the Gonarch screamed in frustration as it hit one of the Combines walls.
Their radio crackled to life. "Sergeant! Good news, we got and reviewed the footage; it seems that this thing's weak to explosives. Freeman used over two dozen rockets on the one he fought; but he had to fire them one at a time, we got the advantage of air support." He shouted into their ears, and Palla nearly sagged in relief before she heard the next words out of his mouth. "You need to lead the thing into a suitable kill position where it can't run and it can't dig a way out." He informed them.
Palla staggered, "All due respect Gunny, are you fucking kidding me?! It's just me and Sapius leading this thing now, all the rest are too hurt or exhausted to continue!" She exclaimed.
"I am not fucking kidding you." the man replied coolly, and she got the distinct sense that she was seriously pressing her luck with him at the moment. "Unless you want a whole bunch of innocent people to die, you two need to get that beast into a good kill spot. I've marked it on your HUDs. It's focused on you because you two have caused it the most pain, so there's no passing the buck for this, I'm sorry to say." He informed them both, and Sapius just groaned, and sat against a rock.
"Spirits dammit… just give me a minute to catch my breath." He rasped.
Palla glanced over at the Turian to remind him they were short on time, until she caught sight of a massive burn covering the right side of his chest; and she felt a swell of guilt run through her as she realized that he had been hit with a glancing blow from the Gonarch's acid spit and she hadn't even noticed.
"Okay… we'll wait a minute." She replied softly, taking a seat across from her friend. "You didn't tell me you got hit.
Sapius just grunted and held his side, keeping his eyes closed as he sat there, "If I had, you would have forced me to stay behind; and you'd be dealing with this monstrosity alone." He panted, leaning back against a section of wall still standing. "Spirits… Now I understand why these humans regard that Freeman guy like he's a Titan incarnate; he killed one of these things on its home turf all alone." He muttered.
Palla chuckled and nodded, "I'd like to meet the guy and shake his hand, if only to compliment him on taking on one of these things. Either he's incredibly brave or incredibly stupid for doing that." She replied.
After a few seconds, Sapius' breath seemed to finally come back to him, and he nodded and hoisted himself to his feet. "Alright, let's get this over with then." He grimaced, holding his side for a moment before recovering.
Palla went to the corpse of one of their fallen comrades and scavenged a Dark Energy Plug from his ruined Pulse SMG. The Marines had learned to keep power adapters on themselves after nearly losing the Admiral on Peak 15. "Sergeant Fennaba to all units, fall back to the last building we secured and standby for the Gunny."
She received a series of "Yessir/Roger!" from the squads and rebels as she hooked Sapius up to the Plug. The Turian's breathing evened out as the beleaguered nanites caught up with his injuries, though the damage to his vest seemed to rule out full functionality. She looked him square in the eyes, and he nodded as he shouldered his weapon and looked at the Shifting rubble where the Gonarch had nearly dug itself free. A glance at her HUD map for the spot Gunny had indicated was a mix of 'good news/bad news'. It was only a few blocks away, so they could make it in short order, but there was only one turn before they arrived and the Gonarch had proven very fast on open ground.
"Bounding Fire, Sergeant," Sapius all but whispered. "I'll move to that brick building up the street while you bait it to the glass highrise on the other side of the road. We'll bounce it back and forth like those annoying bank-shots Doyle always makes when playing pool."
Palla nodded then tapped his shoulder. He ran a block up the street while she moved to the median and waited. As soon as the Gonarch was free, she threw a grenade at it and fired two shots into its grotesque gonad. The blind creature shrieked and prepared to charge as Palla ran for the building. She barely threw herself out of its way as it slammed into the glass facade. She remained perfectly motionless as Sapius drew its attention. As soon as it charged, she and Sapius both ran to their next buildings.
It was exhausting, but they managed to kite the beast all the way to a beige building. It's only remaining feature were a few faded letters: "_GH SCHO_." Somewhere inside was the way-point Adrain had indicated.
Palla looked at her comrade. "Scout it; I'll keep the bug busy!"
Sapius nodded and ran inside, while Palla double-tapped the Gonarch. It took a minute before Sapius pinged her HUD with an updated map to Adrian's marker. He had also apparently moved to the roof of the building as he opened fire, distracting the Gonarch long enough for Palla to get back to the building's entrance. They repeated their earlier efforts to lead the beast into the wide hallways of the building, and into a cavernous room with a tile-lined pit half filled with stagnant water and detritus. It looked perfect, except for the sloped portion.
"Gunny, when we call fire you'll have ten seconds to hit this thing before it's out and on the loose again."
"Understood Sergeant; Danger Close air support is standing by, now!"
Palla looked at Sapius. "One more time Corporal."
He slammed a fresh plug into his CM-1. "Oorah, Sergeant!" he moved to the shallow end of the cavern, while Palla hunkered near several raised blocks. Sapius fired at the Gonarch, causing it to smash into the room and rush him. Sapius managed an anemic jump to avoid being crushed, but it was clear his vest was out of power.
As soon as the creature paused, Palla emptied her weapon into its Gonad. The Gonarch shrieked in rage, spun and tried to fire a blob of acid at her; but the mass hit the cavern roof first, dumping glass and plaster into the pit. The beast shivered and charged, right into the pit. It slammed into the wall beneath Palla's feet.
She primed an impact grenade and yelled into her comm, "Fire NOW!" She jet-jumped onto an elevated platform overhanging the pit and tossed her grenade at the Gonarch. She had just finished a second jet-jump to an elevated gallery in the cavern, when a flash of black dropped through the hole in the ceiling. The world turned white.
Palla slowly raised her head, her ruined helmet falling to the ground, and she watched as the fighter-bombers flew by. The Gonarch gave one final scream of fury and pain, before the fire and explosions caught up to it; and the Gonarach died a violent death, exploding into chunks of meat and flesh.
Palla panted from where she knelt, her hands on the ground; then she started laughing.
It worked… it fucking worked. She thought over and over again, "Sapius! Sapius it worked!" She exclaimed, moving over to where he'd been knocked down. Only he wasn't there anymore.
Palla hoisted herself to her feet, and limped over to where she'd last seen him, and she only saw his rifle and his destroyed helmet. Blinking in confusion, she saw to her horror a trail of blood; dark blue blood as opposed to the yellowish green of the Xenian creatures. "Sapius!" She screamed again, less jubilant and more frantic now.
She began following the trail, and she didn't have to go far.
Laying on top of a pile of rubble was Sapius, his legs crushed under a fallen wall, his gaze hollow and glazed; his fringe was broken, and his PCV was warbling and beeping. Palla limped over and saw that his PCV battery was empty. Checking her own, she realized that she too was empty; and the reality hit her as she took in the massive burn on his side, "Sapius…" She whispered.
The Turian stirred slightly, and weakly held out a hand, which she took.
He took a shaky, wet breath, choked something out; and Palla leaned over him so she could hear him better. After another shaky breath, he said, "Free. my. home. sister." and then he breathed no more.
Adrian walked up to the Sergeant, and he felt a familiar sadness well up inside him for a moment; then he shoved it down, setting a hand on Palla's shoulder as she knelt there in front of Sapius, all four of her eyes looked hollow and unfocused.
"Now's not the time Sergeant." He said gently, before her looked her up and down, and saw a number of shrapnel injuries; mainly in her left leg. "Report back to the CP, get those flakes out of you; report back when they got you all patched up." He ordered.
Palla just gave an absent minded nod, before she stood and limped away towards the medical tents. Adrian watched her go, then rubbed his eyes in exhaustion before setting his mask back in place. "Alright, two of you get his body back to our lines so the head humpers don't get him; the rest of you advance on the palace." He barked out, and a Turian and Quarian dashed forward and grabbed the corporal's body, while the rest seemed to shake themselves out of their fugue and moved back into position.
That was the problem with units that trained together and fought together like they had. They were like a giant dysfunctional family, and like any family; the death of one of their own was always jarring and upsetting. Shaking his head as he looked back at the remains of the Gonarch, he turned and started jogging towards the pontoon bridges already being set up to cross the harbor and reach the Palace.
Reaching the bridges, he was confronted by a strange sight.
The rebels and Marines had managed to set a perimeter around the outer wall of the Palace, but no one had climbed over it yet; most everyone was milling about, covering their sectors and shooting at any Combine troopers that popped their heads out, but not much else. Spotting Zaeed bellowing at a group of what looked like techies working over a set of mobile computers, Adrian jogged over to see what the fuss was about.
"Oi! What the fuck are we sitting around and waiting for?!" He shouted in anger as he came to a stop, and Zaeed turned to look at him with a roll of his eyes.
Jabbing a finger at the egghead looking folks, Zaeed growled. "These idiots say there's at least sixty Overwatch Elite troopers in the base floor of the Palace; watching all the main entrances." He informed him, and Adrian saw five familiar shapes jogging up to them from over Zaeeds shoulder.
Crossing his arms, Adrian shook his head and said, "I assume you idiots heard the news."
Tower absently checked his Pulse Minigun, "Bullshit I say, these things aren't exactly imaginative." He grumped.
Jackson stuck a cigarette in his mouth and started puffing on it. "Unfortunately, all the major entrances are bottlenecked pretty effectively. I managed to scout out a few entrances, but all of them are only good for one or two people at most."
Jenson walked over to the various monitors set up by the tech's, and pointed at the screen; "They set up ten by each entrance; sixty in total."
"We could send a small team to clear them out, but any action on one of the Elite teams blocking then entrances will result in all the rest bearing down on the team we send in." Williams added, absently loading shells into his shotgun.
Adrian and Zaeed exchanged looks, then looked at the last member of their little group; "Anderson, what do you think."
The former Navy SEAL scratched his chin in thought, narrowing his eyes for a moment, then Adrian saw a familiar sparkle in his eyes. "Well… You said a small group is all that can get in right?" He asked, looking at Jenson, who nodded in return. A rare smile graced the old SEALs features. "I think I know the perfect team for this job.
Adrian blinked, then groaned and held his head. "Oh shit, he had that same sparkle and idea in Bosnia."
Anderson just laughed and clapped the elder Shepard on the back. "Glad to see you like it old friend. Now c'mon, we got some room clearing to do. Oh, and could you techies do me a favor, and sync up our helmet cam footage and start recording it?"
The Elites manning the front entrance were ready and waiting for the rebels to inevitably blow the door and charge inside guns blazing; and they would fail. Were they able to feel emotion, or any thoughts not related to combat in any way, the Overwatch Elites would feel a manner of pride at how much fear they instilled in the enemies of their benefactors.
But as it stood, they felt nothing.
They just stood there, behind various desks and pillars, waiting for the rebels to come through; feeling no fear, no anxiousness, no rush, no excitement. The ten of them just stood there, waiting, when a loud Clang! Reached their robotic ears. The cyborgs all exchanged looks, then the Leader made a few gestures and sent some words that sounded like garbled robotic words but were understood with crystal clarity amongst themselves.
The four cyborg fireteam moved out of the line of sight of their comrades into one of the many office complexes; sweeping the area for a moment, but finding nothing.
The fireteam leader reached his hand up in preparation to report that they had found nothing; when he noticed something, a small greenish-blue box. Walking over, not curious but wanting to know if the foriegn object was a threat, the cyborg walked up and grabbed the tiny box. It would be his last decision.
KABOOM!
Three of the four Overwatch Elites were vaporised instantly, but the last was only badly wounded; with his guts spilling out all over the place. Undeterred, and with his nanites struggling to repair the damage, the Elite stood and robotically swept the room.
He never felt the shotgun barrel to the back of his head.
Boom!
The Elites head disappeared in a red mist, and Williams wasted no time in quickly slinging his shotgun and hopping up into the roof of the office; slipping into the darkness as another three Elites ran into the room, sweeping the area to find what had killed their comrades.
Chuckling under his breath, Williams unslung his shotgun and activated the phosphorus upgrade; and promptly headshot the three Elites.
Boom!Boom!Boom!
Jumping back down, he rushed out of the room and ducked behind a desk as the remaining three Elites turned their attention away from the main entrance and started firing on him with their Pulse Rifles. Whistling a merry tune, he loaded in three new shells as the Elites slowly advanced on him; then he took out a grenade, pulled the pin, and rolled it towards the side that had more volumes of fire coming from it.
CRACK!
Williams didn't even bother wasting his time confirming the kill, rolling away from the pillar just in time for the last Elite to launch an Energy Pellet at where he had been not seconds before.
Boom!
The Elite fell to the ground, headless, and Williams walked over to the two that he had gotten with the grenade; and shot them both in the head as well. Grinning under his Balaclava, Williams reached up to his headset.
"Sector One, clear."
The ten Overwatch Elites covering their sector, if it was possible, would have been feeling fear; or at the very least would have been unnerved at how quickly and efficiently their neighboring defensive blockade had been broken. But they weren't afraid, they simply ran the numbers and losses through their synthetic brains; and estimated that the rebels must have suffered heavy casualties from their assault.
Confident, or as close to confident the emotionless cyborgs could feel, that the rebels grip on their position was tenuous at best; the Leader sent four of his Elites to re-secure the breach.
Or at least, he would have, if not for the fact that he was suddenly cut in half by a Pulse Minigun.
The Elites scattered, but they were too exposed in the back, and one by one they all fell dead; their nanites unable to keep up with the damage being done to their bodies. One, with its leg hanging on by the metal bone replacement and synthetic muscles attached to it; tried to charge their sudden attacker.
A Desert Eagle bullet right into its monocular eyepiece stopped that assault dead; literally.
Tower reached up to his ear and nodded. "Sector two, clear."
In a life threatening situation, the average person's heartbeat can be upwards of 175 beats per minute.
Jenson kept his eye on the screen, even as he brought his Enhanced Glock 17 up and aimed it towards the wall; not even looking up as the Overwatch Elites conferred with each other.
A well trained tango is able to stay cool, keep calm. Their heart rates can be 70 to 100 beats per minute.
Jenson shook his head, even as the heart-beat sensor kept track of the Elites as they began to gather themselves up to try and advance towards where Tower and Williams were wreaking havoc.
But by the time I'm done, that number goes down to zero. He thought, pulling the trigger.
Crack!
The Leader fell dead, and Jenson calmly packed up the heartbeat sensor and jumped up into the roof; walking along the support beams as the Elites charged into the room, the idiots clustering up together.
KABOOM!
Jenson shook his head and dropped back down on the opposite side of the room, observing the effects of his claymore. He activated the heartbeat sensor again, and walked up to the pile of dead; spotting one weak heartbeat in the mass of flesh and metal.
Pulling the trigger, he said, "Sector three, clear."
Jackson examined his little invention, absently loading the four grenade "pucks" into the device even as he prepared his trap. Climbing up into the roof, he set it in place and armed it; then hopped back down and drew his Deagle.
He held the clacker in his left hand, and pushed the door open, spotting the Elites as they moved away from him. Not bothering with any movie like taunts or shouts; he raised his arm, took aim, and fired.
The Elite Commander dropped dead, and the other nine turned, just in time for Jackson to shoot a second right in the head. They raised their weapons, but he fired a third time, dropping a third Elite.
He didn't press his luck, and simply ducked back into the room as the Elites all fired; hopping back up into the rafters and climbing on top of an air vent. He watched through a small hole as the seven remaining Elites walked through, and once the last had stepped inside; he hit the clacker.
Thunk!Thunk!Thunk!Thunk!
BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!
The four explosions practically tore half the elites to shreds, and the other half were all knocked off their feet or gravely wounded. Only one was able to recover enough to get back to his feet, but all that did was mark him for death and a bullet in the head.
Once he was sure the seven Elites were dead, Jackson lit up a cigarette and took a deep breath.
"Sector four, clear"
All the members of 3-4 platoon, even Anderson, Ayashe, Core, Harper, and Adrian back in the old days had a flair for the dramatics; and even now, Zaeed could tell that they were putting on a show for the camera's, which was being streamed to the small fleet in orbit.
Normally, he would just scoff, but the camera's were rolling so he would obliged them for the sake of "counter-propaganda".
Raising Jesse, he fired the enhanced L1A1 into the Elites and smirked as four of them fell to the floor; clutching their chests and backs as the incendiary rounds slowly burned them to death from the inside out.
The other six advanced on him, but Zaeed didn't care.
Whistling old New Zealand folk tunes, he pulled off two incendiary grenades from his chest; pulled the pins while cooking them for a few seconds, and then tossed them into the groups.
FWOOSH!
The last six Elites actually screamed in pain as they frantically tried to put out the burning phosphorus; and Zaeed just chuckled at their robot brains stupidity, before he reluctantly put them out of their misery with a bullet to the brain for each of them.
I hope all of you deserved it in your past lives; and if not… well you may not remember who you are now, but you will when you move on.
"Sector five, clear."
Adrian grinned as the last Overwatch Elite fell to the ground dead. Reaching up to his ear, he said, "Sector six is clear." he reported.
THUMP!
Rolling, Adrian missed the impact grenade by inches, which sailed right where his chest would have been and out a nearby window; detonating outside.
He spotted a flash of black moving ahead of him. Assassin. There wasn't enough room in the confines of the hallways for his rifle, so he drew his enhanced M-9 and K-Bar and hustled forward. Or at least, he tried to, as the Assassin suddenly appeared out of nowhere; and Adrian barely dodged to the side as she axe kicked the ground he'd been standing on not seconds before, leaving a giant crack in the ground.
Adrian's eyes widened, as the Assassin pivoted faster than his eyes could follow; and punched in the chest, instantly dropping his Armor's charge from 67% all the way down to 32%. He slammed into the wall, the wind knocked out of him, and gasped for air; he managed to get a good look at the Assassin.
Her uniform was mostly in tatters, but it still covered most of her body.
Her skin was pale, though he could still see a light brown tint to her skin; but he couldn't see her face as it was still covered by her mask. He could see her eyes though, and her eyes glowed bright red as she glared down at him; and numerous scars dotted her body in neat circuit board-like lines, all of them glowing various shades of blue and red.
Her arm and her leg on the other hand, that was what really drew his attention. There was no effort made to hide the reinforced cybernetic prosthetics, and given the solid metal exterior there was no need to armor them. The left arm and right leg were mechanical, the arm fusing into the woman's rib cage and spine; and the leg fusing into her hip and ass cheek.
-WHAM-
He barely ducked a backfist that dented a metal doorframe. What the hell?! The Combine goes for quantity, not quality: why the expense on this one? He thought frantically even as the Assassin charged forward and began engaging him in ferocious hand to hand combat.
Adrians training and PCV were the only reason he was able to keep up with her; barely dodging a punch by her metal arm, and then grunted as she kicked him back again.
He landed flat on his back, and instinctively rolled and grabbed a sheet of metal, and held it up as the Assassin punched the sheet of steel. Adrians eyes bulged out of his head as the metal fist punched clean through, and the Assassin shifted and twisted her body and arm; spinning Adrian around and forcing him to let go of his impromptu shield, before she punched him in the chest with her unaugmented arm, staggering him and buying herself time to extract her metal arm from the sheet of metal.
The Assassin turned her glowing red eyes on Adrian, and though it should have been impossible; he could have sworn that the eye glow brightened in anger and fury. Any doubts to those thoughts were put to rest as the Assassin cocked her metal arm back, and threw the sheet of metal like a frisbee right at him.
Adrian slid under the sheet as it flew through the air, slicing clean through one of the pillars of drywall and burying itself into the wall behind it.
Growling, he began throwing punches left and right along with a number of kicks; but the Assassin almost casually blocked each of his blows, before shoving him back and yanking his own K-Bar out of its sheath. She spun the blade in her non-mechanical hand and settled into a fighting stance, while Adrian tried to steady himself somewhat.
His rifle was useless here, he'd lost his plasma blade, and his pistol had been knocked away. That left only one option for the veteran Marine. Adrian reached to the magnetic strips on his back, and pulled out his oldest weapon, his trusty Pipe Wrench; something that had saved his ass on many occasions.
As he brandished the implement, he could have sworn there was a moment of hesitancy in the assassin before her eyes flashed again. She lunged forward with a powerful, but almost mechanical stab. As they traded blows, he found the grace and creativeness was gone. This made her a much more predictable opponent. She sloppily swiped at him, leaving herself open.
-WHACK-
He brought the wrench down in a full-body haymaker that dented her helmet and split her mask in half. She stumbled against a pillar with her head lolling.
-WHACK-
An uppercut blow with the wrench shattered the remains of the mask while knocking the assassin's helmet completely off. As she dropped the knife and flopped backwards onto the floor, he moved up to deliver a much needed killing blow. But when he stood over his would be killer, he saw a face he hadn't seen in more than a decade; one he had given up hope of ever seeing again and nearly forgotten.
"Ayashe," his arms dropped limply at his side as he looked at the woman he loved, the mother of his only child; twisted into an abomination by Jack Harper and his twisted science team.
A glowing tracery of light flashed across Ayashe's features, and Adrian was launched headfirst into a nearby wall. Stars exploded in his vision just as a crippling jolt of pain ran from the top of his skull down his spine. He tried to get up, but all he could manage was a feeble twitch when he was rolled onto his back. He looked up at Ayashe as emotion warred openly with programming.
"A-Ayashe..."
He didn't even see the punch, only white.
Palla rushed into the lobby, the other Marines and Rebels sweeping the area, but with the exception of the rest of the commanders; there was no one there. The commanders all looked heavily distressed, and when Palla looked around, she noticed the Gunny wasn't among them.
No… She thought, He's too strong to kill. She thought frantically, jogging up to the five men. "Sirs." She said, resisting the urge to salute since it was drilled into all the Expeditionary's on how big of a no-no that was. "Where's the gunny?"
Master Sergeant Massani ignored her in favor of pacing. "She was dead, she has to be dead; no way she's alive." He was muttering.
It was Commander Jackson that answered her, even as he scowled around his cigarette; "He's been captured by an Augmented Assassin, never seen anything like it before." He said, grabbing his cigarette pack and removing one of the tobacco sticks and lighting it with the one currently in his mouth.
Palla blinked each of her eyes in tandem, slowly, as the humans' words finally registered in her ears. "Well let's go rescue him." She finally said.
The other Commanders exchanged looks, before Jackson just shrugged, "Well… alright, what have we got to lose." He grumbled, before turning to the rest of First Platoon, those that were still alive and not wounded of course. "In the center of the palace is a large elevator platform that is used to move large quantities of people and materials; it goes all the way up to nearly the topmost floor. We take it, we can rescue Adrian."
Everyone nodded, "Right, Let's get a move on then." He barked, getting his weapon at the ready and setting off in a jog towards the chamber that contained said elevator. There wasn't much guarding something supposedly so integral to the structure, just a small squad of Overwatch Elites that were quickly and handily dealt with.
The thirty or so combat capable troopers of First Platoon piled into the elevator; and Jackson walked over to a control panel and hit several keys. Palla braced slightly as the lift started, but it was slow, almost as slow as standard Mass Effected Elevators were; and she had a gut feeling that this was something intentional.
And that gut feeling was proven correct when the control panel and monitor Commander Jackson was operating suddenly flashed with a handsome looking human face; wearing a white uniform, and with a large window view behind him.
"Ah, Thomas Jackson, glad to see you're still alive and kicking; but honestly, you really shouldn't be using this elevator. It's for emergencies only you know." The man said, his voice was soothing, yet grating at the same time; and Palla grit her teeth even as the elevator continued its climb.
"Yeah of course you'd say that, you always were a stickler for rules." Jackson replied absently, and he made a series of gestures and jerked his head. As one, the Expeditionary's all took defensive positions; but Palla remained standing with the other five Commanders, He knows them? She thought.
"It's not so much an order as a friendly suggestion, considering that I have programmed this ride to stop at a set number of floors; each of which having a familiar house of horrors. Your first stop will be a blast to the past. You all remember the Xenian Grunts correct? Able to overpower our Vests and the augmenting nanites; I know I do, considering that one was able to punch one of my men through a concrete wall reinforced with rebar. Of course, without their old master they were nothing more than animals; so I… 'repurposed' them." the Consol replied, and just as he said that; the elevator stopped.
Jackson and the other Commanders tensed, and Massani bellowed, "Don't let them get close to you! And don't let them hit you with their 'Thornets', those things have toxins and their stingers can punch through an inch of solid steel!"
Palla tensed as the various doors leading to the elevator opened; revealing muscular creatures, easily as big if not bigger than Krogan, with three arms and Quarian-like legs. All of them roared in unison, and so the battle began in earnest.
It was a massive headache that greeted Adrian Shepard as he opened his eyes. And it was a face that he had not seen in twenty years that took up his vision.
It was the first time he could get a clean look at her face, body, and everything else; and it just made his blood boil and his heart sink all the same. Her face was lined with thin, shallow scars, looking more like surgery scars than combat scars; but what made them eye-catching was that they glowed a faint greenish-blue, which contrasted sharply with her light brown skin. Her hair was still a dark chocolate brown, but they had numerous grey streaks in them, belying her age and the stress that she had endured all these years.
Her arm and leg both gleamed a bright silver, and both were obviously mechanical; and yet were symmetrical with their biological counterparts.
"Ayashe… what happened to you…" He mumbled.
A set of footsteps drew his attention, and he recognized Ben Hilsop; the old Sergeant from 3-4 platoon looked worse than ever. Tired, sweaty, thin, stressed; and above all, he looked sympathetic almost. "I'll take him from here, report to the Consul." He ordered softly.
The mechanical eyes flashed as light ran down Ayashe's face like digital tears before she turned and marched from the room. Ben bent down in front of the glaring Adrain. "We found her in the rubble of Cumberland, about… fifteen years ago I think. You can guess the extent of the injuries, so Core and Lawson had her put on ice until... repairs could be made. Jack thought you might still be out there; that you'd be the Boy-Scout sonofabitch you always were. So he had her conditioned."
Adrian could see the distaste in Ben's eyes at the word, as well as regret. "What the Grunts, Elites and Assassins go through are Saturday Morning Cartoons compared to what Jack did to her mind." He reached down and grabbed Adrian's vest at the armpits, and Adrain felt a pinch followed by a familiar rush of medical nanites and Ant-lion Grub Extract. He hoisted Adrian to his feet and put his mouth next to Adrain's ear and whispered, "When the time comes, don't hesitate or worry about Ayashe; we'll only have this one chance."
Ben then tossed Adrian into the waiting arms of a pair of Elites. "I think it's past time you were reminded who is really in charge."
The Elites wheeled Adrian around and dragged him through the building. Shepard was content to let Ben's injection run its course, and allowed his head to flop limply as he was carried into the office of the man he had come here to kill.
It was a short walk, and they entered the office; being greeted by Harper, Ayashe, and another Assassin in a white suit. The Assassin took her place next to Ben, while Ayashe stood just behind Harper, staring off into space; though Adrian noted that she was unconsciously clenching and unclenching her metal arm.
"Ah… Good to see you again Corporal, I was just finishing up dealing with our old friends down below." Harper said with an almost manic grin, stepping forward towards Adrian.
"Wish I could say the same Cap." Adrian mumbled in reply, glaring up at his old CO. "You… you did that to her." He rasped.
Harpers grin widened, "You like it? She was in very bad shape when we found her; nearly mauled to death by headcrab zombies on the outskirts of Cumberland. Drew off the horde so that the survivors could get away. Including your little girl." He explained, gesturing to Ayashe, who continued to stand there blankly. "You should be thankful, I saved her life."
"Thankful?! For what, turning her into your personal hitman and sex slave." Adrian barked angrily, and the two Elites tightened their grips on him.
Harper snorted, "Please, honey trap that she is; the glowing blood vessels and cybernetics are a pretty big turnoff to me. But she was always the best hitmen and scout for us; I don't recall you having any objections when she executed those officers in Bosnia." He noted, raising an eyebrow and clasping his hands.
Ayashe's cybernetics flashed again, and her eyes brightened; which almost hid how her eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly, as if displeased.
Adrian managed to keep relaxed as he sneered. "Oh yeah, the former Soviet Politburo hatchetmen who had been directing the Ethnic cleansings in Bosnia; the two men who used masked Russian mercenaries as a 'policing force' to keep the locals in line through intimidation." He raised his head just enough to see Jack without letting the former officer see how lucid he really was. "I am seeing some equivalence here, but I don't think it's the type you want everyone else to see, Comrade."
Jack's gaze hardened, then he sighed; "Just from those words, I know there's no hope for you. I had been hopeful that you could convince that rabble in the streets to give up their senseless struggle. But it seems that I was mistaken." He snorted, "No matter, the others will come around. Unit Kingfisher, terminate and cauterize Anti-Citizen Shepard." He ordered, taking his gun off his belt and handing it to Ayashe; who took it in her non-mechanical hand.
Ayashe stiffly walked towards Adrian. As she raised the pistol, he said the only thing he could think about at that moment.
"I got to meet Ayita. You'd be proud of her."
Jack scoffed in the background until he realized there was no bang. He scowled and stomped over to her. "Unit Kingfisher, I gave you a direct ord-"
Ayashe gave a near bestial electronic roar as she spun around and pistol-whipped her former commander across the room. "My dAUghTEr!" While her underlying voice was the same, it had a distinct mechanical and robotic tone to it; and Adrian caught a glimpse of more glowing cybernetics where her vocal cords would have been.
The two Elites holding Adrian dropped him and moved to protect the Consul, only to each be cleanly double tapped by Ben Hislop and the Assassin with him. The noise attracted the now enraged super-assassin Ayashe who fired the pistol's only round into Ben's gut. Sam closed on her with a shriek of grief and tackled Ayashe to the ground. Adrian wanted to help Ben, to keep Ayashe from killing the, he guessed, de-conditioned assassin, but he had a greater priority. Because while chaos was breaking out in the room, Jack Harper was slinking away.
"Jack!"
The Consul looked over as Adrain cast off all pretense of being incapacitated, before he simply turned and ran for his life.
It was the fifth and final stop, at least that was what Commander Jackson had claimed; although Palla was willing to believe that he'd overridden the automatic stops, if only so she didn't have to worry about her ammo any more. Endless waves of Combine troops, repurposed battle robots, brainwashed alien soldiers, Synthetic soldiers...
It seemed as if the entire building was filled with some kind of horrifying experiment, some new breed of war machine born from the Consul and his desire to 'improve' his own race.
Thankfully, it seemed like the dictator had finally run out of his unique shock troopers; and had resorted to using the Overwatch Elites and specialized troops, such as the Suppressors, Ordinals, and Chargers. Palla quickly sighted the Chargers and blew the leaders head off; even as Commander Jackson frantically tried to override the elevator controls. "Dammit! Engineers! Deploy drones and use the shield protocols!" Master Sergeant Massani barked.
As one, the Quarians all began typing on their omnitools and sent their drones outwards and each drone deployed hard light shields; like what the Chargers utilized.
It was really useful in stopping the Ordinals from killing them all with Energy Pellets; as the spheres of dark energy just reflected off the barriers that had been put up. Palla quickly began headshotting the Chargers left and right, as their armor was still formidable enough to prevent them from going down in just one or two shots. "Commander!?" She shouted, as the hard light shields began to flicker.
"Al-most… GOT IT!" He shouted, and the doors slammed shut on the Combine troopers, and the elevator started to rise again.
There was a collective sigh of relief, and most everyone just slumped onto the ground to catch their breath. They had taken casualties on the way up, five Marines lay dead on the transparent floor; and at least half of the platoon had been wounded, most being minor nicks and shrapnel, but some lay next to the dead as the sole remaining corpsman and Jenson tried to keep them alive and comfortable as they continued their long ride up.
At least until they heard the distinctive Whump-Whump-Whump-Whump of a Combine Hunter-Chopper climbing up to their altitude.
Commander Williams cursed and turned to the others. "DOWN!" He screamed, just as the chopper launched a barrage of rockets at them.
Palla dove to the ground as the explosions impacted the tower, and it felt as if the whole thing was shaking. The elevator stopped, about a foot down from the next floor and still five floors below the level of the Consuls office. Everyone slowly picked themselves up from where they lay, and watched as the Chopper didn't swing around for another pass like they'd expected; but instead started to rise and gain altitude.
Pallas eyes widened as she realized what it was doing. "They don't care about us, they stopped us; they're going to pick up the Consul." She breathed out.
Master Sergeant Massani swore violently and brought a hand up to his ear. "Motherfucking dammit! We're four-fifths of the way up and the fucker's gonna get away by helicopter." He snapped furiously.
The wave of calls for air support and confirmations almost made Palla rip her helmet off and take out her earpiece. But one voice stopped it all. "This is Gunnery Sergeant Shepard; I am in pursuit of the Console, please keep reinforcements from reaching the top floor."
Palla shared looks with the other commanders, and without a word; she jumped up the foot between the elevator's current level and the next floor, and took off towards the stairs.
Adrian took off after Harper, even as the wounded Ben and his own loyal Assassin kept Ayashe distracted; and he could feel his vest was being pushed to its limits as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him.
He still had his mask and helmet, which meant he also had his comms. So he heard the familiar voice of Zaeed shouting, "Motherfucking dammit! We're four-fifths of the way up and the fucker's gonna get away by helicopter." along with a host of others trying to scramble aircraft to intercept the chopper and fears of AA emplacements and other units in need of air support.
Panting as he ran, Adrian raised a finger to his headphones and snapped. "This is Gunnery Sergeant Shepard; I am in pursuit of the Console, please keep reinforcements from reaching the top floor."
The line went dead for a solid ten seconds, then it was filled with acknowledgements and cheers at how he'd managed to break free. Adrian ignored them as he spotted Harper running through a bar, and he followed him; until the hunter-chopper showed up, hovering just outside the window. Swearing, Adrian took cover as the Chopper sprayed the entire bar area with its massive Pulse Cannon; pulse slugs riddling the walls and the furniture, but missing him entirely.
The second it stopped firing, Adrian was back on his feet and running after where he'd seen Harper go; a set of spiral stairs leading up to the glass dome that capped the Palace. There wasn't a helipad, but there was enough clearance between the roof and the dome to allow a hunter-chopper to swing in close.
Adrian glanced out the shattered window as he reached the spiral stairs, and his gut sank as he saw that it was no longer tracking him; now it was rising up in the air, presumably to pick up Harper.
Fuck that! He cursed, running up the stairs; noting that his health readings were holding steady at 72%, but his Vests energy levels had dropped to 14%. There would be no second chances for him. He had to get to Harper while he still could.
Coming to the top of the stairs, he saw to his horror the hunter-chopper hovering in place just a few inches above the roof; it's rotors mear feet from hitting the massive glass dome. The two cockpit windows were open, allowing Adrian to see the Civil Protection Officer piloting the helicopter; and Harper climbing into the rear seat. Running at full speed, Adrian swore again as the pilot realized what was going on and started to rise up into the air.
He was just a second too slow.
Adrian jumped, and caught himself on one of the hunter-chopper's stubby little 'wings' where its missiles and rockets were held; and pulled himself up to where the Pilot was sitting. He climbed up despite the armor offering very little in terms of handholds; and he reached into the cockpit, and pulled the pilots pistol out of the CPs holster. She cursed and tried to swing the chopper around to throw Adrian off even as she struggled with him for a moment; but Adrian shot off half the magazine in desperation, some of the rounds going into the canopy, some going into the control panel, and one into the CP's head.
The interface started sparking and smoking, even as alarms blared out incomprehensive warnings. Adrian took the stick and steered the now out of control chopper towards the glass dome; and waited till the last possible second, before jumping off and landing on the roof, hard.
He rolled and was knocked to the ground as a resounding explosion staggered him, the sound of shattered glass was like music to his ears… at least until he looked up and realized that the cockpit section was mostly undamaged, and the glass dome topping the palace was only cracked; not shattered.
He saw Harper climb his way out of the burning wreckage, and the two exchanged looks; and then Harper looked down at something on the ground.
Adrian followed his gaze, and realized that it was in fact the pistol he'd stolen from the pilot, having dropped it when he jumped from the craft; and it was still loaded with half a magazine. Adrian staggered to his feet, but fell to his knees as he felt a massive headache overcome him; and he blinked as he realized something.
The right side of his helmet felt heavier for some reason, and the right side of his face felt… cold.
Feeling his helmet, he realized that it was a piece of the chopper; but not being deterred, he started crawling forward on his hands and knees. Harper did the same, bleeding from the head and from one of his legs.
Adrian reached the pistol first, but Harper stamped down on adrians hand, breaking his fingers with a loud crack. Adrian howled, and Harper kicked him in the face, the half no longer protected by his mask. Adrian fell to the ground, panting heavily while Harper slowly raised his gun; glaring the Marine down with murderous intent in his eyes.
"Goodbye, Corporal Shepard." He hissed.
Crack!
Harper staggered, bleeding from the back of his shoulder; and Adrian looked over and saw his savoir. Ben Hilsop, still bleeding from the gutshot Harper had given him along with numerous other cuts and stabs, staggered forward while limping; weakly aiming a .357 Desert Eagle at Harper, firing again.
Harper staggered again as he was hit in the other shoulder, but he returned fire, emptying the magazine of his pistol into his former Co-ruler; the last round going right between the eyes.
Ben was already falling to the ground dead as Adrian got back up, and he charged forward.
Harper turned with wide eyes as Adrian tackled the dictator, furiously punching him in the face as hard as he could; using the glass dome to brace Harper. He could hear the glass cracking even further, while Harper began bleeding heavily from the mouth. Kicking the pistol away, Adrian looked over at the hunter-chopper, and he spotted a cargo hook and cable. Grinning viciously, Adrian picked up Harper by the throat and dragged him over; the Consul choking and weakly trying to break the vengeful Marines hold.
Adrian slammed his head against the chopper, and Harper slumped to the ground, clutching his head in pain.
The Marine grabbed the cable and quickly wrapped it around Harper's neck, securing it with the cargo hook. Grabbing him by the shoulders, Adrian looked the Consul in the eyes; and the man realized what Adrian intended, and immediately started grabbing at his throat.
Adrian didn't even let him try. "Goodbye, Captain Harper." He spat, and slammed Harper into the already weakened glass dome as hard as he could. The Dome shattered, viciously cutting up Harper's back, arms, and legs; even as the man screamed all the way down, until the aircraft cable snapped, taught, and stopped him dead.
The screams of the Consul of the Combine Overwatch stopped, and all that was left was a body hanging and twitching in its death throes below.
Pilot A/N: Well… made the same mistake again, and I don't really have an excuse beyond saying the transition between final exams and work was not a pleasant one. In any case, two chapters will be going up today to make up for that, and it's the finale and epilogue of Act 2 so it works out perfectly.
Now then, Ayashe Shepard being alive should not be too much of a surprise. For the imagery of her cybernetics, just picture the renegade Shepard with all their cybernetics glowing under their skin; and her arm and leg are essentially just female versions of the Winter Soldier's old prosthetic.
Beyond that, I don't have much to say except we get to see exactly why the H.E.C.U was the unit they sent in to deal with the Black Mesa Incident. Just the six of them were able to clear out an entire company's worth of Transhuman Cyborgs that are easily able to crush most other enemies.
Now then… anything to add Ian?
Ian A/N: As always, my personal favorite section was with the plucky Expeditionary force under Sergeant Fennaba. I know some of you are "fans" of the Gonarch, so the opening fight of this chapter is for you!
This concludes the lion's share of this story's settup. Stay tuned dear readers, for the war with the Citadel is about to truly begin!
Pilot: Well then, leave a review and let us know what you guys think.
A TV Tropes page would be loved and appreciated.
And I will see ya when I see ya.