Alright, now for something different: instead of just focusing on a particular franchise, I'm going to write a few one-shots that focuses on a character or group of characters, and their reactions/conflicts with the Flood. I'll still write the more franchise specific stories, but for now, I'd like to focus on characters and their reactions to the Parasite.
First up, it's Commander Shepard and crew from the Mass Effect series.
Commander John Shepard and his crew ran through the wastes of this barely inhabitable planet. They had come here thanks to a distress call from an old pirate base, claiming to have information on stopping the Flood.
This damn war had started over a year ago (if you could call it a war), and everyone in the multiverse had been on the defensive against the vast armies that the Parasite could throw at them. Even the advanced technology of the Republic and Separatists was barely keeping the Flood at bay, and it was unclear how long that would last. So even when there was the slightest hint of a way to permanently stop them, there was no other choice but to investigate.
Though the crew was dubious (and Shepard himself was rather skeptical) of the claim, it was something they couldn't afford to ignore. Unfortunately, once they arrived they found that the base was abandoned, and seemingly had been for a long time.
To make matters even worse, the Flood had emerged from the ground around the bunker, having been lying in wait in order to ambush anyone who got the distress signal. Shepard grimaced at the thought of this whole thing being a Flood trap, hating these strange alien parasites.
After the horrifying work of the Reapers and their Husks, Shepard had thought that he had seen it all. Even after the multiverse was opened up to the galaxy, the Commander still thought there was nothing that could possibly be worse than what he had already faced.
How wrong he was.
He and the rest of the crew had been in complete shock when they learned about the Flood, each disgusted and horrified of their capabilities and what had been required to stop them. Full scale galactic extinction of all sentient life was something that even the Reapers wouldn't take lightly, so when they found out that that was required to end the Forerunner-Flood war... well, everyone had their own unique reactions to it.
Liara was aghast at how much destruction the Flood left in their wake, and the horrifying implication at how much life was lost in the firing of the Halo Array; hundreds of sentient species were likely wiped from existence because the Forerunners didn't have time to index every possible sentient species before the Flood descended upon them. As a former archeologist, that was horrifying on a completely different scale.
Ashley was horrified at the very nature of the Flood, and how they twisted life forms to their own purposes. But what stood out more was what they could do to AIs and even organics; the logic plague was even more insidious than Reaper indoctrination, because not only would it worm its way inside your head, but unlike indoctrination, every horrible decision made by those corrupted was effectively made of their own free will. If the Reapers had been demons, then the Flood and the Gravemind was the equivalent of Satan.
The soldier in Garrus admired how the Flood operated: they took everything that made their opponents strong and turned it against them. Nothing was wasted, and they even found ways to improve upon technology in ways that no one had even considered. The Turian in him realized that the Parasite possessed even greater strength than the rest of the IDA combined, and how they could spell the end of civilization.
Tali was horrified of the Flood for in both a physiological and slightly existential manner. Even with the upgraded suits and bolstered immune systems from living on Rannoch, their immune systems were even more vulnerable to the Parasite than most other species. They also represented a shift in her world view regarding the most dangerous threats in the multiverse. The Reapers and geth had previously shown that synthetics were among the most dangerous threat in their galaxy. Even after making peace with the geth, she still believed synthetics were the worse threat to organic life forms. Now the Flood proved that organics were far more dangerous, especially with the Parasite's use of the logic plague, making them dangerous to both organics and synthetics.
With the events on Fehl Prime with the Collectors, and fighting through the Reaper war, James had allowed himself to believe that the worse was behind them. But then the multiverse opened up to a whole new level of insanity that surpassed what they had to deal with during the events leading up to the Reaper war. Then the Flood had appeared. After everything that happened, he was still struggling to take it all in.
As a synthetic life form, EDI didn't have the same fear of being infected by the Flood's biological nature, yet there was still something EDI was terrified of: The logic plague. She couldn't imagine betraying the crew of the Normandy, but the Gravemind had managed to convince other, far more advanced AIs to turn on their creators without hesitation or mercy. And the Flood had done this with ease to even the most hyper-advanced AIs in the form of the Reapers and Forerunner metarch ancillas.
Even Javik, who had seen Reaper nightmares from two different eras was rendered speechless by both the monstrous nature of the Parasite, and the steps necessary to stop them. The Forerunners had been a hundred times stronger than the Protheans or Reapers ever could be, and yet they fell to the ravenous nature of the Flood. Like Garrus, he appreciated the effectiveness of the Flood's MO; taking their opponent's strength and turning it against them. The Prothean in him was disgusted at just how much they twisted organic life to their own ends. Not even the Reapers had been that bad.
Shaking out of his musings, Shepard had ensured everyone's weapons were loaded with incendiary rounds. Javik was the only one who wasn't using them, as his Particle Rifle was more than sufficient to bring down a Flood form, and even better, dissolve the corpse so it couldn't be reused.
Standard Mass Accelerator fire wouldn't do much to a Flood form, since their insides had been liquified. Headshots also didn't have much of an effect, as the Flood had mutated the body past the need for their head.
Shepard rose up from cover and fired on the nearest Flood form. The Incendiary ammunition cooked the former turian from the inside, reducing it to a pile of ash. A second burst tore through a Brute combat form before a burst of spikes impacted the Commander's shields and forced him behind cover.
"Damnit!" Shepard swore. "Garrus, take out that Ranged Form!"
"I'm on it!" The sniper replied, and seconds later, a shot rang out. "Scoped and dropped."
Despite that brief respite, the Flood kept swarming through. Javik unleashed Dark Channel through the ranks of the Parasite, complemented by biotic explosions detonated by Liara's own biotics. Despite all that, it was a losing battle, and everyone knew it. They couldn't hold this position for much longer.
"Everyone, into the bunker!" Shepard shouted.
The squad beat a hasty retreat into the fallback bunker behind them. As soon as everyone was inside, Tali activated her omni-tool and sealed the door nanoseconds before the Flood could get inside.
"How long will that hold?" Garrus asked.
"Not long." Tali responded, holding up her omni-tool.
As if to confirm that, the sound of limbs pounding on the door started filtering into the room, followed by sporadic weapon fire. Already, the sheer number of Flood forms was straining the door at its seams.
"We need to get out of here, now." Shepard said, before activating his radio. "Cortez, we need a pickup at the roof of the base."
"That may prove difficult, Commander." Cortez responded. "The Flood are massing around the facility, and I'm not sure how long it'll be until they force their way in."
"Commander, we have another problem." Joker's voice broke through the link. "I'm detecting hundreds of Flood infected ships coming out of FTL."
"Have they spotted you?" Shepard asked with no small amount of concern.
"Negative." This time it was EDI who reported. "The Republic-issue cloaking device is sufficient at keeping us hidden. However, there is a significant risk of incoming collisions with the Flood vessels."
"Copy that. We'll head to the roof now." Shepard responded. "Cortez, prep for a quick exfil."
Filtering out the acknowledgement of his crew, Shepard led them deeper into the bunker just as the horde of Flood finally breached the doors. The Normandy crew made a fighting retreat through the depths of the building, with the tide of Parasites hot on their heels, occasionally halting to toss a grenade into the mass of Flood.
As they ran towards their only chance of escape, Shepard couldn't help but marvel at how badly this war was going. It had only been a year since the conflict with the Flood had started, and already, it rivaled the scope of the Reaper War, Yuuzhan Vong war, and the Human-Covenant War... combined!
It was only thanks to the Republic and the Separatists that the IDA was lasting as long as they were. Without their support, calculations showed that the IDA would fall to the Flood within a matter of weeks. And without the IDA, Citadel Space and the Terminus Systems would fall in a matter of days.
Shaking off that depressing train of thought, Shepard turned to see Tali sealing every door as the team passed through the threshold, slowing the Parasite long enough for them to get to the roof.
"Commander," EDI's voice broke through the comms. "The Flood are launching spore capsules on your position. Recommend that you equip breathers before going outside."
"Copy that, EDI." Shepard quickly turned to the team. "You heard the lady, helmets on, and seal your suits."
The Normandy crew made their way up to the roof entrance., putting on breath masks, helmets and sealing the suits to prevent Flood spores from permeating the filters. Once that was done, they breached the stairwell.
Seconds later, the Team broke through the door to the roof, where Cortez was circling with the Kodiak. Outside the bunker, a veritable sea of green was surrounding the building, as dozens of Flood Dispersal pods dropped to the ground from orbit.
As they made for the LZ, several Pure Stalker forms crawled up from the ledge of the roof and quickly shifted into Tank forms. The large Flood beasts growled and charged as a host of combat forms broke through the door. Throughout the horde, they could hear one voice speaking.
"The Reapers have served their purpose." The rasping baritone of the Gravemind echoed from all around them. "They regarded 'Shepard' as their greatest threat."
"You'll find I'm full of surprises." Shepard growled, firing a burst from his rifle which took a combat form down. "The Reapers found that out the hard way!"
"They were designed to be weak." The Gravemind droned on, sounding bored of Shepard's ranting. "You were proof of that."
It was at this point that Shepard could really see the difference between the Flood and their Reaper servants. Unlike the Reapers, the Flood were really like a force of nature. Considering how they were slowly but surely 'flooding' throught the multiverse, they certainly lived up to their name and reputation.
Still, that didn't mean that Shepard was just going to take the Gravemind's insults.
"You are a cancer." The Commander stated as he stabbed and eviscerated a tank form with his omni-blade. "Nothing more than a parasite."
"We are one, we are legion." The Mind countered. "You are one man in charge of weaklings."
"My team gives me strength!" Shepard shouted in defiance. The Gravemind's response sent a shiver up his spine.
"Any bond can be broken." It said this not as a warning, or threat, but as a statement of fact. "It just needs a little push."
"Shepard!" Garrus' voice brought his gaze to the shuttle. "We have to go!"
Taking a brief look around, Shepard realized that the rest of the team had already extracted in the shuttle, and were providing covering fire against the horde of Flood. With a start, Shepard also noticed that dozens of combat and pure forms were crawling or leaping up to the rooftop.
Turning to the shuttle, he sprinted and leapt up, grabbing the edge of the of the troop bay. Rounds followed him, but the twisted nature of the Parasite meant that the bulk of their shots were wild and inaccurate. Garrus and Tali provided covering fire while Ashley and Liara pulled the heavily armed Commander into the troop bay. Once inside, the shuttle hatch sealed and Shepard banged his fist on the door to the cockpit.
"Cortez, get us out of here!"
With that command, the shuttle took off into the atmosphere, followed by the tracer fire of hundreds of weapons. The barriers provided enough protection for the shuttle to get out of range, heading towards the modified stealth frigate in orbit.
As the shuttle burst into orbit, Shepard watched as the planet below was slowly engulfed in a sea of green. As the nameless world as terraformed into another of the Parasite's wretched hives, Shepard felt something he hadn't felt since the Reaper War.
Hopelessness.
Alright, so I want to clarify (and I tried to make it clear in this one shot) that the Flood is more of a force of nature and a greater threat than the Reapers could ever claim to be. The Reapers were synthetics, but were created by organics. In contrast, the Flood were always organic, and to top off their eldritch nature, they apparently existed before time itself.
Besides, the Reapers seemingly beat everyone by being stronger, but really, they only make sure that everyone else is weaker than them. By contrast, the Flood takes their enemy's strength and turns it against them, like they did with the Forerunners. In terms of what would be more terrifying, the Flood wins, hands down, even without me increasing their threat level in my stories. It makes sense that Shepard and co would be more terrified of the Flood than the Reapers.
Sorry for that rant there, it's just something I've been wanting to get off my chest for a while. And after reading a number of crossovers (not just with Halo) that buff the Reapers to some ridiculous degrees, I felt that it needed to be said.
Alright, now I have some ideas for the next 'hero' chapters; the next one's going to involve Samus Aran, and the one after that, I'm undecided on, but I think I'll have it focus on Han Solo and/or Boba Fett, so look forward to that.
Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, and reviews are always welcome.