Here y'all go! Enjoy!
POV: Aedon Torchbearer
I sat at one of the tables in the mess with Garrus on my left and Liara on my right. We were in the middle of some random conversation. I wasn't paying attention though, I was too focused on the food. That was because I had managed to snag the last of the Taco MREs. Kaiden and Ashley were jealous of that as usual but if they wanted it they should've been faster to the mess.
From the way everyone was talking though it seemed a bit animated. Meh, food was more important right now. Not to mention that my mind was in a different area code right now. I was worrying about Ceelo since we still had no idea where the guy was. It was disconcerting, but there was faith in me that he would be fine. How fine though, thoroughly depended on when we found out where the guy was.
Reaching back into the MRE to grab a couple more crackers I was surprised and disappointed to realize there were none left. Leaving the MRE completely empty and finished. Disappointing. They always went just a little too quick, looks like I'm paying attention to their conversation now.
I opened my ears for all of five seconds and quickly regretted it. Apparently it was about their 'conquests' and Wrex was currently the one sharing his. Now, I'm no prude and had done my fair share of one night stands but to talk about it while others were eating was a bit distasteful. Also, it had been a long while since I had last had sex, about a year now. It had been with some human store manager back on the citadel. Still hadn't ventured to try out the other species.
As it was now, Wrex was talking about some Krogan woman he had 'wrangled', his own words, into his bed right before he got on the Normandy. He went into rather explicit detail about everything that happened and I hate to admit it but it was a bit interesting. There was a lot more than what I thought it would be for Krogan. Made it seem like it was a ritual for them, which it may very well be with how their species is. The man has to fight for dominance and if he loses then the female rejects him outright and that could mean celibacy for the whole sector according to Wrex.
He didn't go into much of anything past that and I was thankful for that small miracle. Not so much when Liara started talking next and realizing hit that I would be next. Sighing I prepared myself to talk about as Liara quickly made her way through her encounter. She was extremely shy about it but did get out that it had been with one of her Turian coworkers at the dig site. A Turian who was now very much so dead, made the mood a little somber but that quickly evaporated thanks to Wrex.
"And what of you boy?" he stated rather loudly as he looked at me pointedly.
"Store manager back on the citadel. Nice lady, always gave me discounts on vegetables."
When everyone noticed that I wasn't going to elaborate on anything, I wasn't one to kiss and tell, a few of them groaned. Especially Wrex.
"Boy, we already got one of those. We're all sharing, give us a little something more," I sighed before responding. I would tell the truth here, no reason to lie.
"Had to block her number afterwards and find a new store to get veggies."
"Why?" Tali asked innocently. It seemed everyone else was of the same mind except for Wrex. He had figured it out and had a shit eating grin on his face, I think it was partially because Tali asked the question too.
"Wouldn't leave me alone."
"Why?" Tali asked again and I released a long suffering sigh.
"Suffering from success?" Thank you Shepard for the save. I looked at him, nodded and then left.
Now, talking about sex or my one night stands doesn't particularly bother me. I just don't like to. When I have those one night stands it's usually for relief and to have a companion for the night. I had gotten very good at it over the years. Still, to talk about it was just distasteful and it made me feel wrong.
Never regretted the happenings but to do so was just demeaning in my mind. Even though she would never hear of this conversation it was a betrayal of trust in my eyes. When two people get together that's their own business and no one else's, unless one is cheating then that's wrong. Others shouldn't hear what happens in the bedroom of others and that is an opinion that won't be budged.
Plus, she had been a really nice lady but she was looking for something and I wasn't and still aren't to be honest. She was also surprisingly pushy when it came down to it and started trying to invade my privacy. That was an absolute no go in my book.
I had been walking to the Elevator when I left the others but stopped as my omni-tool pinged. Looking down at it in confusion for a second I looked at the info packet that had come in. Studying it for a second realization dawned that this was the work of Ceelo. Opening the packet immediately it was just coordinates.
Turning around I sprinted back to the table and sent the coordinates to Shepard's omni-tool, that definitely hurt my ribs. He just got the message as I stopped in front of him and he looked at me in curiosity as did the others. Garrus had been in the middle of his story and had been interrupted by me.
"Shepard. We need to get to these coordinates yesterday," I stated as he looked at the coordinates. He made a few taps on his omni-tool and then sent them in a message to Joker.
"We'll be there in about a day or so. This about your mentor?"
"Yes. And can we go faster?" my tone was clipped and quick. I didn't want to waste a single second here, even though the travel was now out of my hands.
"I'll talk to Joker," he got up and left the table.
Everyone else was giving me mixed looks of curiosity. That curiosity quickly changed to realization and their curiosity was quickly replaced with realization and determination. With a small amount of apprehension at what we could find. All except for Wrex though, he knew Frank and he knew Ceelo; he had faith in them. That being said we would either meet or beat Frank to the coordinates, it would be a good reunion.
Leaving them to themselves I went to the Medbay. I still wasn't cleared to do anything besides light duty.
Walking into the Medbay Dr. Chakwas was at her terminal as usual. Seeing me come in she pushed her chair away from her desk and gestured to one of the beds. Jumping up on said bed she immediately got into into the examination. It took me all of 30 seconds into the examination to realize that I wasn't going to be cleared. The ribs still weren't healed and neither was the shoulder. A lot better than they were but definitely not healed.
As was predicted when the examination ended she straightened up and went to her terminal. Looking at me from the terminal she put a few things into it before straightening back up. She looked me dead in the eyes like you would see a mother to a child when they're about to give a punishment. Though, there was some reluctance in her eyes.
"I can't clear you Wynne."
"Ma-" I started but never even got the opportunity. She cut me off quickly.
"Nothing young man. Only 2 of your ribs are fully healed and they were both only partially fractured. The ones that were truly fractured and the broken ones still need at least another day and a half."
"And my shoulder?" I asked innocently hoping to shift away from the ribs.
"Doing good. Probably just another injection of medi-gel and you'll be fine. However, it still needs another day and a half at minimum for me to clear you for field work," I went to open my mouth but she gave me the stare. The one that screams 'shut up'.
"However, I do understand why you want to go," well apparently Shepard had expected me to try and get cleared. "I don't expect you to sit on the sidelines for this. So I will clear you," I perked up instantly at that. "If and only if you stay on the back lines. No rushing in and no craziness. Do I make myself clear young man?" It really wasn't a question.
"Yes ma'am."
"Good. Now, run along."
As soon as I left the medbay I immediately went to my locker in the cargo hold. Took out my weapon and began to methodically clean it. Disassemble and then clean it over and over again until my butt started to get sore and my legs were falling asleep.
Slowly standing up after I finished the last disassembly and cleaning I put my gun away. With plenty of time on my hands and nothing to do I opened the notes that Ceelo had given me for tech and got about studying them. While doing this I openly paced around the cargo hold. Ashley and Garrus gave me inquisitive looks initially but stopped after a few minutes. Wrex on the other hand didn't care, as usual.
At this point it was just impulsivity that kept me going and kept me distracted. Didn't want to dwell on getting to Ceelo and I didn't have any real chores to do around the ship to keep me distracted. Eventually I felt a hand grab my shoulder from behind. Turning around it was just Shepard.
"Dr. Chakwas informed me of her restrictions for you," I nodded at him confirming so. "Okay, I thought about leaving you in the Mako but I know for a fact that you'd just come in anyways and then we wouldn't have an eye on you."
"Good call there," I wasn't lying or being sarcastic either. If they had left me in the Mako I definitely would have found a way inside. Still, he gave me a deadpan stare at my words.
"Instead, you will be in the back with Garrus. You are to watch his back for anyone trying to flank but otherwise you don't leave his hip. Got it," he wasn't really asking if that wasn't obvious.
"Yes sir."
"Good. Make sure you some rest when you can Wynne. We'll be getting there early in the ships day cycle."
"How long until we get there?"
"12 hours max. It'll be about 2:30 am on the ships cycle when we get there."
"Got it sir. Do the others know yet for the early rise?"
"You're the last to find out."
After the talk with Shepard I talked to Garrus for a good while. We went over the plan and everything that we would be doing together. That being said it was really just him telling me what to do when we were in combat. It was really simple stuff and nothing I hadn't done before. Really just simple covering of your battle buddy but at the back instead of at the front like how I was used too.
Garrus did also ask for me to bring plenty of grenades. When I asked why he said it would be used to flush out people in cover and that he would spot those people. Seemed like a damn good idea to me. Once that was done I had dinner and then went to sleep.
As of right now however, we were all piled into the Mako and getting ready to hit the drop point; I had my 1911 locked into the small of my back. Instead of being at the back of the Mako being the first couple out I was sitting next to Tali, with Kaiden across from me and right behind Shepard in the driver's seat. Felt a bit weird not to be in the back but for now this was fine with me. As much as I wanted to be one of the first ones in there it wouldn't be good to put my pride above the mission. That's how you get people killed.
All things considered though I was a bit nervous to get down there. Seeing Ceelo again would be nice; as much of an asshat as he could be he was a good man and had taught me a lot. Not to mention that the last time we had seen each other he said he was working on something for me. Could be anything with that man.
As those thoughts were rattling around in my mind Joker came though the comms and gave us the green light. The bay doors opened subsequently and we shot out the end into our free fall towards the ground.
Landing went as usual, with a little extra pain in the ribs, and as soon as we were set we were off towards the coordinates. There was a bit of chatter from everyone else but I wasn't really paying attention. It wasn't anything to pay attention to, just the usual pre mission talk from what I heard between them.
Speeding across the land we went for about a half an hour before my radio blared to life. As did everyone else's in the Mako. Shepard stopped the Mako in confusion as Garrus swiveled on the Turret and Tali checked the scanner. Nothing was coming up on either end but it didn't need to. We sat there for a minute before our radios blared back to life again.
"Kid. That you in the Mako?" What the hell was Frank doing here. Surprisingly, Wrex also recognized the voice from the way he shifted after hearing it.
"Yes," I answered after a heartbeat which got the attention of everyone in the Mako.
"Okay, where's your CO?" there was no room for argument in his voice and Shepard answered it after giving me a hard stare.
"This is Commander Shepard. Council Spectre. Who is this?"
"This is The Eye commander and if you want your team to make it out of here alive you'll listen to what I have to say," his tone wasn't threatening at all but Shepard took it that way and I can't say I blame him. That wasn't exactly the way to say it and it got me a hard stare from everyone this time and not just Shepard.
"I don't like this at all Eye and the only reason I'm talking to you right now is because my old CO liked you. He also told me you wouldn't do anything without a reason or without it working in your favor. Now, what's your association with Wynne and why did you contact us?"
"The kid's my apprentice and we currently have the same mission. Plus, 200 meters in the direction you're going is an anti-vehicle minefield," that brought an abrupt silence to the entirety of the Mako. "Turn around to your Southwest and head to the rock formation. Go into the little divet on the way otherwise the base will see you."
Shepard grumbled a bit to himself and the only reason I heard him was because I was literally right behind him. As he did so he turned around the Mako and followed Frank's directions. Sure enough too he saw the divet and went into it dropping below the sand top. We drove within the divet for a couple of minutes before we saw the end.
Getting out of the divet sure enough there was a rock formation right in front of us. There was a figure waving us down from the left of the formation. As we drove towards them and they got bigger I saw from behind Shepard that it was Volio. Pulling up alongside Volio he pointed up the rock formation where another vehicle was parked. Shepard followed the recommendation and parked next to the vehicle.
Slowly we all got out of the Mako, with Wrex and I being the only ones with our weapons not drawn. Wrex and I walked forward towards the top of the formation where a little outcropping was. We got only a couple feet before Shepard ordered us back. In turn each of us looked at each other, sighed and then went back to the group. Neither of us got our weapons out though, much to the chagrin of the others.
Thankfully, Volio came up from where he had waved us down a couple minutes earlier. He didn't diffuse the situation but he made it a bit more bearable for me.
"You can put away the weapons. You know that right?" he asked as he walked up to us. No one really paid him much mind but I walked out to him from the group. He saw me coming and gave me his best Turian smile.
"Good to see you kid! Hope they aren't putting you too far on the straight and narrow."
"Never. How's everything been with you?"
"Been a little hectic lately with Ceelo being taken and everything but it happens. Not the first time one of us were taken," I cocked my head at that but he just waved it away, story for another time then.
"Everyone else all good?" I didn't want to use their names yet, not my place.
"You can ask them yourself when they get down from the outcropping," he pointed over his shoulder at the exact spot Wrex and I had been going to.
"Good to see you too toothpick," Wrex spoke up, walking forward.
"Oh I saw you dinosaur. Just didn't want to give you the satisfaction," Wrex just huffed at that but didn't say anything else.
After that we just made some small talk between the three of us. Mostly consisting of our weapons and equipment and how they were holding up. Volio did notice that I was wearing my Predator armor from ARK job along with all the new scratches on it. Told him how they happened and the grenade that had mostly sidelined me for this mission. Gave me a bit of grief for that and then asked if I had used any of the bullets yet. I told him no and that's when I saw Frank and Miss T'Kari come down from the outcropping.
They strode forward purposefully towards us in silence. When they got to me Frank shook my hand and then pulled me into a half hug, Miss T'Kari gave me a full hug. Once that was done Frank turned to my group and addressed them, specifically Shepard.
"Commander Shepard I assume," Frank asked directly to Shepard within the group.
"And you're the Eye?" Frank just nodded. "What are you here for?"
"Same as you, Ceelo. He's a part of our group."
"Safe to assume you're Wynne's trainers."
"I'm more of a mentor but yes."
"Wynne never speaks of you."
"Good. I may be his mentor and friend but that doesn't mean he just gets to name-drop me whenever he wants. Especially around a Spectre."
"Fair enough. I think the only one besides him that knows anything about you is our Doctor and she won't say anything about you."
"Doctor Chakwas. Good lady, you got there watching your wounded," at that Frank's head swivels towards me. "Why are you here kid? I can tell you're injured, postures off."
"I couldn't sit this out. No way I would."
"And the Doc's okay with it?"
"I'm regulated to the back with our sniper. No front line or flanking work until I'm fully healed."
"Good. Be a smart kid, no heroics," he said, patting me on the shoulder. Shepard cleared his throat as Frank looked back to him.
"Mission. What have you got?"
"Anti-vehicle mines for the whole mile to the base. Other than that it's clear sailing, no anti-personnel mines that we could see or detect."
"And the base itself?"
"Basic construction for an underground bunker. The very top jutting out for air filtration with the entrance there as well, nothing otherwise special. No turrets either. I suggest a straightforward blitz. We can't take the vehicles and they would detect anything in the air for miles, they won't be expecting a ground attack."
"I agree… Does your team need time to get ready?"
"No."
"We move in five then," as Shepard said that Frank spun around to look at Volio and Miss T'Kari. He gave a simple nod of his head and they went back to their vehicle to grab their gear. Once he left too he gave me a small nod of his head, silently telling me that we would speak afterwards.
With that set up Wrex and I returned fully to Shepard's group. No one gave either of us any grief for greeting them and we got ready as a group. Wrex, Shepard and Kaiden up front with Liara and Tali in the middle with Garrus and myself at the back. Once we were situated and ready to go we looked over to Frank, he gave us a nod and we were off.
Jogging down the rock formation, around it and then straight to the base. Frank, Miss T'Kari, and Volio leading the way a good 100 feet in front of me. That being said I was at the back of the formation as we were spread out evenly with the closest to them being Shepard, Kaiden and Wrex who were only about 25ish feet behind them.
After a couple minutes of brief jogging and my ribs aching we arrived at the base. The top part of the base that we saw looked like an oversized pan cover without the grip and a part that was obviously the entrance on it. Approaching the entrance as a full group, Frank gave a signal to Volio and he approached the entrance with what looked like a blow torch in hand.
He didn't have to bother however as once he got within a couple of feet it opened automatically. While this put everyone else on edge it didn't put Frank's group or me on edge. We knew it wouldn't be Cerberus who would open the door for us, if anyone it would be Ceelo. Crafty fucker that he is probably had an omni-tool integrated into his suit.
Once the door opened Frank and his trio made their way through the opening. The whole of our team except for Wrex and I were weary of this. Being injured I wasn't allowed to push forward but Wrex had no such limitations and followed Frank. Shepard was right on his heels, having been the first to recover and then the rest followed.
Garrus wouldn't let me go before him but it is what it is.
As I got to the bottom of the ramp only Garrus and Tali still there as the rest had moved up and around the corner in front of us. For now the order had been to stay quiet to see if we could catch any of them off guard. A solid plan if they weren't paranoid and probably had a sensor at the front door that detected someone the moment they set foot in here. Not to say that they did but that's what I would have if I had the budget for it.
Either way Garrus, Tali and I caught up to the rest of the group only for everyone to stop in their tracks as our radios crackled to life again. Same tone and frequency as before so my initial thoughts went to Frank wanting to make comms but that ended when Ceelo's voice came over the channel.
"I am three floors below the entrance. Use the stairs to get down here. Do not under any circumstance use the elevators. I repeat, do not use the elevators," his voice was hushed and controlled as if he was hiding from something. Frank seemed to pick up on this too.
"Ceelo, what are you hiding from?" thinking maybe, just maybe Kahoku was here I sent out a pulse to see if anything was in the area, nothing was for now. If you can't remember or don't know when you find Kahoku in the game he was in a cage with 2 Rachni.
"I don't know, didn't get a good look at them but they're really angry. Don't let the kid send out a pulse though, they're drawn to anything electromagnetic," collectively everyone turned their heads to look at me. They all knew I had already sent one out from the info feedback.
"Fuck."
That's when the chittering started. I thanked god that it was only a singular chittering though and as it got closer no others joined it, it was still highly creepy. None of us could pin down where exactly it was though as it seemed to be coming from all around us. We got into a rough diamond formation with Liara in the middle, had to protect or best biotic.
I had put myself at the head of the formation looking back the way we came but a hand roughly grabbed and shoved me back towards Liara. I wanted to protest but it got shut down immediately by Frank who stared me down; even behind a helmet I could he was having none of it from an injured person.
We stood in that formation listening to the chittering as it slowly got closer and closer but then all of a sudden it stopped. When it did we were silent as the grave waiting for anything to happen, anything at all. The silence stretched and stretched and when we were just about to believe the danger had past the Rachni shot up from below right in front of Wrex.
Now, I want to say our first encounter with the rachni was harrowing but it was anything but because it chose to pick Wrex as its first target. Still, it was able to hit him with a bit of acid in the middle of his chest, his armor and shields blocked it all before it could get to his skin. Other than that opening attack it didn't get anything else in as Wrex blasted it with a point blank shotgun round tearing its face apart and killing it instantly.
Bending down to exam the corpse Wrex was silent for a few seconds as we all moved around to see exactly what had attacked us. No one besides myself and Wrex knew what it was. After a couple seconds of examination he grunted and stood up from the corpse before turning back to Shepard.
"Shepard, that's a Rachni."
"I thought the Krogan eradicated them?"
"As did I," was Wrex's response and no one had anything else to say to that. Frank broke the silence rather quickly.
"Any recommendations on how to fight them?"
"Stay away from the walls and watch above and below you. They spit acid too so unless you got some heavy armor don't get hit by that. As for the pincers," he grabbed the Rachni's tentacles. "They will break through shields, don't get within striking distance. Otherwise, they die like anything else."
"Alright, tighten up people. Let's find the stairs, Ceelo, and then the exit in that order," at Shepards order we all bunched up into a single file line.
We were, of course, spaced out a bit just in case one got the drop on us but we slowly made our way down the hall and found the stairs. Slowly progressing down three flights of stairs while not knowing if we were being stalked in the night was a bit harrowing and eye opening. Is this what my targets felt like at times when they realized I was on the hunt? No reason to worry about it now, the rachni were just creatures.
Going down the three flights of stairs we exited with Miss T'Kari in the lead, the former commando as quiet as the grave. Stalking down the hallway behind her as a group we were as silent as we could be. With our big bodies we weren't all that successful but nothing noticed us. Plus the bloodstains on the wall that we had seen in both this hallway and the staircase gave us cause to think that the Rachni might be sleeping off a full belly.
Eventually as we went down the hallway we heard an almost silent whisper coming from one of the doors next to Miss T'Kari. She grabbed the door handle and swung it open. Ceelo stood there with blood covering his suit and a veritable patchwork of his extra suit leather all over him.
"It'll take more than this to take me down," he said simply as he turned around and grabbed someone behind him. As they walked out with the mystery man hanging on Ceelo's shoulder and bleeding in several places plus some minor acid burns Shepard strode forward and took the man from Ceelo.
"Good to see you're still alive Admiral," oh so this was Kahoku. A lot different from the games look for him but his voice was the same, if a bit more russian than in the game.
"You as well Commander. Let's get out of here," Shepard nodded and motioned to Kaiden. Stepping forward he threw the admiral over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. Ceelo tried to wave it off but Frank was taking no chances with him, he went over Volio's shoulder.
"Wait," Ceelo wheezed out over Volio's shoulder. We looked at him expectantly. "Need to set the bases self destruct. Don't want them to escape."
"Was there ever a big one with them?" Wrex asked Ceelo.
"I don't know. Never bothered to look, I just released their cages and then hid when everything went to shit."
"You released them," Wrex growled as he took a step towards Volio and Ceelo. He got stopped real quick by a gun pointed under his chin from Frank.
"Calm down there Werx," Shepard said from behind him as he gently pulled them back. When he was back Ceelo spoke up again.
"Didn't know what I was releasing to be honest. It wasn't in their tech at all and I hacked everything."
"Okay, as informative as this is we need to fucking leave. We don't know how many there are and right now we have injured personnel," I snapped up in my best hushed voice while still trying to be commanding. Worked well enough.
"Kid's right. Ceelo where is the self destruct on the facility, I know you have the schematics," Frank spoke up taking complete charge of the situation. Shepard looked a little miffed but deferred to Frank as well, experience trumps everything at this point.
"One floor down on the other side. I was able to mark it with a red X with cerberus blood. Wasn't able to do anything because we were being chased at the time," Frank nodded and looked to us.
"Any volunteers?" I raised my hand immediately.
"Are you stable enough?" I nodded my head at him and he nodded back. At that I was off.
I walked towards the stairs and went down. Even though it was literally only a one floor difference it was massive. Each step I took down the stairs there was more and more blood everywhere. Along with some bones and what had to be brain matter, it looked like a Kandinsky painting from hell and it extended to everywhere.
Getting to the bottom of the stairs I stepped into a pool of blood with a little splash. Looking around the stairs I noticed a body with its head missing laying behind the stairs, must've been a fresh kill if the blood could still splash, even if minimally. Pushing that out of my mind I stalked to the door and slowly opened it only to see a rachni right in front of me. Freezing on the spot with my breath caught in my throat I thought it was going to attack only to realize that the thing was asleep.
Opening the door just enough to poke my head out after having that heart attack I got another one. It turns out that this hallway was where every single rachni must've decided was the nicest as they were all napping here.
Steeling myself I opened the door fully leaving it open in case it squeaked on the close I went into the hallway. Pressing myself against the wall I scooted along the wall towards the end of the hall. Stepping over multiple rachni limbs and switching walls every few meters to avoid having to step directly over one.
Reaching the end of the hall I peaked around the corner and looked down the hallway. The emergency lights flickering in the hall as nothing moved with a few bodies strewn about on the floor. All dead Cerberus agents.
Pushing forward with my AR out I kept Wrex's advice in mind now and stayed in the dead middle of the hallways. Stepping over bodies on my way down the hall I didn't see any doors with a red X on them. For the doors that I did pass without the red X they were mostly broken open with even more bodies inside them. Scientists and guards alike, no one was spared and some had definitely been food. Parts of them were missing entirely.
Getting to the end of the hall I looked both ways and saw right at the end of the hall on my right was the door with the red X. Sighing in relief at having found it I made my towards it only to stop dead in my tracks when the chittering returned. Coming from around the corner directly in front of me.
Thinking fast I took another step and then stepped into the door on my right and into the room. Not bothering to close the door I hid on the right and held my breath as the chittering got closer. I wanted to take a peek badly just to look at it and to see if there were more than just one but I resisted the urge. Either way I took out my knife just in case, if I had to fight it the gun couldn't be used or I'd wake up the rest and that would mean death.
As it got close enough to practically smell the thing I readied my knife but it didn't do anything and just passed me by. Letting out a long breath in relief my body relaxed for a second or two. After that I waited for another minute or two as the chittering grew quieter.
Taking a peek out the door I couldn't see it anymore and stepped out and as silently and quickly as possible made my way to the door. Getting there I hacked it open and quickly squeezed my way inside. Looking at the console in front of me I was at a loss, this was nothing I had ever encountered before and frankly too complicated for me.
Keying my omni-tool Sam shut down my external audio and opened my channel to the others. Their response was immediate.
"You make it?" was Ceelo's first words as the connection was established.
"Yeah, what now? I don't know this system."
"Okay, there should be dials and gauges on the right side of the console," I saw them and then made my way to them grunting in affirmative for Ceelo. "The dial on the far right, turn it up to its max. After that one it's the 3rd from the left and turn that one all the way off."
Doing as he told me a warning sign popped up on the console on my left. Moving to it I integrated my omni-tool into it and hacked the failsafe off. With that done Ceelo continued.
"Once you turned off failsafe there should be a set of nine buttons on your left," seeing them I moved to them and waited. "Hit the top left, bottom middle and then the middle right and top right. That should do it."
Doing so the console lit up again but this time it wasn't a failsafe. Instead, it just said on the screen: Meltdown in 5 minutes.
Cursing my luck, it had taken 10 to get here, I went out the door and pushed my way back the way I came. Staying as stealthy as possible as I rushed back towards the stairs I made it there quickly but cursed my luck when I saw all, and I do mean all, of the rachni waking up.
Well, fuck it.
Grabbing two grenades off my belt I threw them at the rachni as I ran at them. The blast outright killed a good amount of them and stunned the rest. Giving me just enough room to get into the stairway and slam the door shut. Knowing I didn't have much time regardless I sprinted up the three flights of stairs.
Getting out of the stairway I made the right turn and ran towards where we had come. Only to be blocked by a rachni sitting in front of the ramp that worked as the exit. It looked back at me as I rounded the corner and let out a chittering cry as it charged.
Firing my gun on full auto it ripped into the rachni but none were kill shots. As it closed the distance further it shot acid at me. Slamming myself into the wall to avoid the acid it leaped at me. Ducking under it I pulled out my knife and held it in one hand as I continued to shoot at it with my AR.
Whipping around after its failed leap its tentacles shot out at me. I destroyed the first with a lucky shot of my AR, the other however slammed into my leg. It hurt like nothing I had felt before and if my armor didn't have reinforced plates there it would've gone straight through my leg. Since I did though it just punched through the plate partially and into my leg. And it was stuck there.
Thinking it had the advantage it leaped at me again with it's fucked up maw open and aimed at my head. Still, I reacted in time. Falling backward onto my back the thing landed on top of me and started biting at my helmet. However, it didn't penetrate because of the materials for the mask, reinforced meteorite, THANK YOU FRANK.
This gave me just enough time to send my knife right through its head from the below it. It squealed and spasmed once, twice and then collapsed onto me.
Taking a few deep breaths I hauled the thing off me and made to leave but the pincer tentacle was still embedded in my leg. Not having the time to remove it I used my knife and cut the tentacle, severing it from the rachni.
So with a rachni tentacle pincer in my leg I climbed my way out of the base and then hauled ass away as fast as my legs would take me. I made it about 30 seconds of running before there was a giant rumbling from below and with my unsteady and weakened legs it threw me to the ground.
Once the rumbling was done a few minutes later I stood back up and began limping my way towards where I could see the others. Waiting for me in their vehicles right at the edge of the minefield. They didn't make me walk the whole way thank god and Wrex, Frank, Shepard and Kaiden came out to greet me.
"Hey, Wrex. Guess I'm the first person since the Rachni Wars to kill one with a knife huh," I gestured to my leg and then to my rachni blood covered knife still in my hand.
"First ever with a knife that small," he joked at me.
"It's not the size that matters. It's the motion of the ocean," Frank stated and we all let out a small chuckle at that. Gotta love dick jokes.
"Alright, let's get you off that leg. Wrex," Shepard stated after our little chuckle. Wrex huffed and then threw me over his shoulder. With that we walked back to the Mako and he threw me in there.
Frank said a quick goodbye by patting me on the shoulder as Wrex set me in the Mako and then hugged me. I hugged back as best I could. It was good to see him again and they were going to take Ceelo to an underworld Quarian doc to make sure everything was okay with him. I nodded and made to fall asleep but I was rudely stopped.
Ceelo stood at the door of the Mako and grabbed my hand with the omni-tool and looked me dead in the eyes.
"The Torchbearer deserves a torch," he then uploaded a program into my omni-tool and activated it.
My omni-tool extended as it did in the game for the omni-blade. Instead of making itself into a blade however, it extended further and went upwards and into my hand. Turning into a literal torch. About 2 feet long with superheated omni-gel at the end acting as literal flames. It was really hot too.
Deactivating the program after a couple seconds of admiring the gift I leaned forward and hugged Ceelo. He returned the hug and patted me on the back before backing away and limping back to Frank's vehicle. Once he left Volio and Miss T'Kari came up and gave me the same treatment, a nice hug and then they were off.
"Hey," I called out to my mentors as they stood outside their vehicle. They turned together to look at me. "How did you escape?" I asked Ceelo.
"Two days," that's all he said and then went into the vehicle. What the hell was that?!
Once Ceelo gave me that little piece of mind screwing the rest of them got in the vehicle and left. As they left Wrex closed the back doors and we were off to a more open zone for Joker to pick us up. As we made out way there Liara looked at me and my condition and gave me pitying eyes. I didn't know why until she opened her mouth.
"Dr. Chakwas is not going to be happy that you got even more hurt."
"I'll live. She won't hurt me, definitely scold me though. On second thought, that might be worse," that got a few chuckles.
As we got into the Normandy, Kaiden took the Admiral to the Med Bay. Wrex helped me out of the Mako and then Tali helped me to the Med bay. Along the way her hand found its way into my free one, my other still clutching the knife.
Entering the med bay Tali gave my hand a quick squeeze as she maneuvered me onto one of the tables. She gently pried the knife out of my hands as I laid there and then helped to get me out of my armor. As she did so one of Dr. Chakwas' nurses came over and helped her. Pretty soon I was shirtless with the bottom half of my armor still on because of the pincer in my leg.
Laying on the cold bed Tali squeezed my hand one more time before she left the med bay. The nurse started cleaning around the pincer as best they could but there wasn't much they could do
A couple minutes later once the Admiral was sleeping and recovering Dr. Chakwas came over to me and looked down at me.
"Young man," she started in a steely voice.
"No habla ingles."
"Quite," and then she stuck me with a sedative and I passed out.
And that's all she wrote. For those of you expecting a giant fight, sorry to disappoint but this is what I felt was better.
I hope I was able to get a good amount of tension in there as Wynne was stalking the around the facility but it is what it is.
Don't forget to Review. Help me get better.