Amid the screaming and tumbling of bodies about the escape pod, it was all Agent Washington could do to make himself heard above the commotion. "WHAT? JUST? HAPPENED?" he screamed out to no one in particular as he attempted to brace himself in his seat with his three remaining functional limbs. Moments ago, he'd been groaning in pain from his dislocated hip while Doc and Donut had been preparing to (in Donut's exact words) "pop the head back into the hole" while watching Caboose manipulate the temporal distortion unit under what he suspected was the influence of Epsilon. (AI integration and mind possession wasn't always a seamless transition, and Caboose's head tended to jerk around a bit whenever Epsilon took over his mind.) However, in the process of Caboose's temporal distortion utilization, a strange red light had enveloped all of them, and their escape pod had gone from "stable" to "uncontrolled tumbling" which now explained the multi-colored armored bodies crashing around him. (Amid the commotion, Wash had the presence of notice that only one sea-green body was flying around, which meant that Carolina had managed to activate her grav boots.)
"I don't know!" Epsilon answered, his tone slightly panicked. "I tried to take us back in time-"
"Oh, because THAT'S-ow-never caused us any problems-" Tucker retorted angrily, as he collided with Wash's injured leg. Wash winced.
"Hey, you got better idea, asshole?" Epsilon snapped back.
"ALL OF YOU, JUST SHUT UP," Carolina screamed from the cockpit, which had the dual effect of silencing everyone's screams just long enough for them to grab hold of something anchored down. "Epsilon, status report!"
Epsilon disappeared momentarily. As he did, the escape pod gradually leveled out and the artificial gravity re-engaged, which sent most of the simulation troopers sliding to floor with a chorus of pained groans. Epsilon reappeared. "Well, good news, we're nowhere near the space pirates-"
"And the bad news?" Carolina asked as she disengaged her grav boots and emerged from the cockpit. She took a few steps towards Doc, who she promptly picked up and shoved into a seat with one hand before yanking his harness down over him.
"The nav computer has absolutely no idea where we are-"
"We're lost?" Caboose's voice asked from under Simmons and Griff.
"-and we've just entered the atmosphere of an unknown planet-" he added as the telltale orange flames ignited outside of the windows. "Good news is, I should be able to crash-land this thing to a suitable landing zone-"
"And-" Carolina growled as she grabbed the chest of Donut's armor and wrenched him into the seat next to Doc, who barely had time to protest Carolina's rough handling of him with a surprised "Hey, easy!"
"-we only have thirty seconds until impact." Epsilon replied quietly, which was followed by dead silence and what Wash assumed were shocked stares from everyone else.
Carolina uttered something between a growl and a frustrated groan, and Wash cowered slightly in his seat. (Said vocalizations from her usually resulted in someone and/or something getting pounded into submission.) "Everyone-" Carolina growled again as she lifted Griff with one arm- "Seats-" -she shoved him into the spot next to Simmons )who had scrambled to his feet and was securing his own harness as quick as humanly possible) "-NOW," she finished, as she moved onto a cheerfully humming Caboose.
Wash reached up for his own harness and pulled it down over him as he continued to ignore the screaming pain in his hip socket. This isn't the first time you've crash-landed into something, he told himself as Tucker and Sarge climbed into seats on either side of him.
"Any last words, Bluetard?" Sarge asked Tucker calmly as his harness clicked into place.
"Yeah: fuck you, Red." Tucker answered.
Wash sighed loudly as he relaxed into his seat. Even in the face of death, these guys just don't quit.
Carolina secured the last of the simulation troopers before jumping into a seat directly across from Wash and pulling her own harness down over her shoulders. "Fifteen seconds to impact-" Epsilon announced as he projected himself onto everyone's HUDs. As he finished, the escape pod jerked backwards and decelerated slightly as more parachutes deployed. "And Wash?"
"Yes Epsilon?"
"Sorry in advance about the landing-" Epsilon said quickly before disappearing from sight.
"Wait, wha-AAAAHAHHHH!" Wash began, but was cut off as the escape pod smashed through what felt like trees with enough force to rattle everyone in their seats. The pain in his leg seemed to spread throughout his body before everything went dark-
#####
"Okay, your turn: how many times did you catch Kasumi appearing out of nowhere?" Joker asked as he stirred some coals around in an attempt to re-ignite the new firewood that Garrus had deposited moments before.
Garrus laughed. "Once, and I was actually sleeping," he replied as he reached back for his Widow and extended it to full length as he wandered out towards the edge of the cliff.
"Only once?" Joker asked, his tone somewhere disbelief and jealousy. "She snuck up on me, like, at least ten times in her first month aboard, and I was wide-awake!"
Garrus tapped his visor once more. "Her cloaking systems are more advanced than anything I've ever encountered, but my visor could still pick up her within a few meters…that, and I suspect that she never bothered to conceal her thermal signatures around me," he finished thoughtfully.
Joker raised his brows as he picked up the portable emergency weather station and turned it on. "Really? THAT doesn't sound like her…"
Garrus nodded. "Mmm…I think it was her way of showing respect and recognizing that this-" -Garrus tapped his visor again- "-was more than capable of tracking her. Also, she probably figured that it's a bad idea to screw with someone who might be responsible for helping you out of a tight spot during a firefight."
Joker's features twisted in deep thought momentarily before he nodded in agreement. "Makes sense," he said as he returned his attention back to the sky. On the horizon, there was a faint hint of an approaching sunrise with dark clouds and lightning punctuated by an occasional brisk breeze, which made Joker shiver every so often.
We should probably find him a blanket, Garrus thought. He looked back up at the storm as his mandibles flicked involuntarily. "Looks like we may not be out here much longer," he said as he looked from the storm to the fire. "We've been here almost a month, but this is the first time I've seen any sort of storm system…"
Joker tapped at the tiny portable weather station and quickly scanned the display. "Well, whatever it is, it's about as dangerous as your typical thunderstorm back on Earth," he said as he turned it off. "Maybe it's this planet's rainy season?" he added with a shrug.
"Could be." Garrus turned his gaze back to the sky. The glowing red star was still present, but a new object had appeared just to the left of it: what the humans called a "falling star" was now blazing across the sky...but unlike typical shooting stars, this one appeared to growing larger and slowing down in a pattern that didn't strike him as entirely natural. He raised the scope of his rifle to his eye, pointed it at the object and set the magnification to maximum zoom. At this distance, he couldn't make out the object's precise nature, but it's movement pattern didn't feel entirely natural.
Behind him, he heard Joker slowly push himself to his feet and join him. "Something that needs a bullet between the eyes up there?" he asked half-jokingly.
"Take a look," Garrus said, as he lowered the scope from his eye and held it out so Joker could take a turn. "That look like a meteorite to you?"
Joker shook his head as he pushed the rifle back towards Garrus without peering through the scope. "Uh, no, and unlike you, I can make out subtle difference between a meteorite and a spacecraft entering the atmosphere without the aid of scope magnification," he sassed half-jokingly as he crossed his arms across his chest.
Garrus paused and turned his head to face Joker before he brought the scope back up to his eye. "Spacecraft?" he asked, shocked.
Joker gently pushed the rifle back up to Garrus' head, which Garrus took as a sign to look through the scope again. "It just slowed down AND decreased it's angle of descent. Random space junk wouldn't do that-" he began as he extended his arm and pointed at the object, which, sure enough, was doing exactly as Joker described. Now, he could make out the distinct burn pattern of a spacecraft re-entering the atmosphere, and even part of the vehicle's profile…and try as he might, he made a disconcerting realization as he racked his memory trying to match it to any of the known space-faring races.
"It looks nothing like anything I've seen in Citadel space," Garrus said aloud as he backed the zoom out once more and glanced at Joker.
Joker's face twisted up briefly in thought and ended in a raise of his brows as he brought up his omni-tool and tapped a few buttons.
"Joker, what the hell are you-" Garrus began, but was interrupted by a chorus of panicked, unfamiliar voices screaming in the background while one male voice fought to be overheard-
"-about to crash land on an unknown-"
"Epsilon, what the hell do you think you're doing-" a female voice cut in before the signal went dead.
Garrus and Joker stood a stared at each other, than turned back to the unknown object in the sky.
"Epsilon?"
"Human Greek alphabet letter," Joker answered, his expression still puzzled. "But we don't typically name people after them-"
"Just star systems," Garrus finished as he returned to his attention to his scope and the unknown object in the sky. An idea struck him: "If that's an escape pod, it can hold, what, ten people?" he said as he offered the scope to Joker once more.
Joker glanced through the scope again. "Human-sized, yes-and it just deployed some sort of parachute system."
Garrus' mandibles flicked as he studied the object for another moment. Years of adventuring with Shepard had originally made him wary of responding to distress signals (both Cerberus and the geth had tricked them before) but something in his gut told him that he needed to seek out whoever was aboard that escape pod. "I'm going to check it out. Alone." Garrus said as he turned on his heel and headed towards the airlock entrance.
Joker's eyes went as wide as saucers. "Wait, you're gonna what?"
"I don't have time to argue this, Joker," Garrus replied as he reached the airlock entrance and the storage locker just inside of it. "Whoever that is, they're about to crash land in that jungle-" he paused as he pulled open the locker," "-where they'll be completely concealed, and be able to see us-" he pushed aside a spare rifle as he dug around in search of spare thermal clips- "-completely exposed." He glanced over at a bewildered Joker, who now stood just outside the airlock entrance. "Granted, we still have the high ground, but I don't like the idea of not knowing what they're capable of."
"I doubt they have enough to mount an invasion against us," Joker muttered. In the distance, Garrus watched as the objected disappeared below the tree line with a dispersal of some of the native bird-like creatures.
Garrus paused and closed his eyes for a moment. There was truth in the helmsman's statement, but the same feeling in his gut nudged at him again. "I'm not willing to bet the remaining crew's lives on it, Joker," Garrus finally replied. "Trust me, it's safer for me to scout alone." After all, how many times did I do it on Omega?
"Couldn't you at least take one of the biotics?" Joker suggested.
Garrus shook his head. "I'm not risking the life of the last living Prothean or the Shadow Broker for a scouting mission," Garrus answered as he grabbed the rappelling gear and a few extra thermal clips as he quickly scanned the storage unit for anything else that might come in handy during a recon mission. Oh, spare scope…might need that, he thought as he absentmindedly stashed it in one of his chest pockets.
"Ash or Vega, then-" Joker interjected as Garrus strode past him and retrieved his helmet from where he'd been sitting.
Another shake of his head. "Ash is next in line to assume command if anything happens to me, and the Normandy needs to keep it's most experienced warfighters close by in the event something goes sideways-" Spirits, I hope it doesn't come to that, he thought to himself as he secured the thermal clips to his belt and the magnetic harness attachment to his torso. He found a suitable attachment point for the rappelling gear on the Normandy and quickly secured and tested his weight against it before slowly walking backwards towards the edge. "It has to me and me alone, Joker-" Garrus said as he paused to pick up his helmet and pulled it over his head with both hands, "-because quite frankly, I'm the most expendable crew member on this ship right now," he finished as he glanced back at the smoke rising from the trees and away from the advancing storm.
"Well, she sure as hell didn't think that," Joker muttered.
Garrus paused before going over the edge. "Joker…" his growling subvocals echoing in his helmet. Why are you angry? he asked himself.
"She literally freaking made me fly back through a full-on Reaper invasion to save your sorry ass, and you're about to run out into that damn jungle without so much as a plan-" Joker began as he angrily pointed back at the ruined Normandy.
Garrus looked behind him and sighed. Damn it, he has a point, Vakarian. "Radio silence for thirty minutes," he finally replied. "In case they're capable of triangulating the signal."
Joker held his angry stare, but nodded stiffly. "If I don't hear from you before then?" he said as he gingerly knelt down to pick up the stick that Garrus had given him earlier.
"Then tell Ash what I did, and tell her to bring backup," he replied as he looked down at the ground below him and slowly let himself down. As he did so, he took one final look at Joker, whose angry expression was now morphing into one of concern as Garrus disappeared over the edge and quietly bounced his way down the side. About halfway down, he paused and looked back up to still see Joker's head and shoulder looking down at him. If it weren't for the fact that his bones would shatter, he'd be right behind me. Garrus extended an arm and motioned a talon behind Joker, hoping that it would redirect Joker's attention to the fire behind him. With a heavy sigh, Joker apparently got the message and slowly pushed himself away and out of sight.
He has a point, you know, his conscience nagged.
"No, he doesn't," Garrus whispered quietly to himself as he continued his decent down the edge.
#####
As the rest of the simulation troopers scrambled out of the open hatch door, only Carolina, Epsilon, and an unconscious Washington remained inside. As Carolina knelt down to sling him over her shoulder, Epsilon took note of the barely perceptible rising and falling of Wash's chest. "Wash?" Carolina began in a tone she hadn't used since-
York was alive, Epsilon thought privately. "Healing unit is running at full capacity," Epsilon reassured as he appeared next to Wash's helmet. "And no, I'm not risking a jump to his AI slot to help him out." Because the first and last time it happened, he woke up screaming before passing out for days on end.
"I wasn't going to ask," Carolina replied as she grabbed one of his arms and pulled him up to a sitting position.
"Oooh, Tucker, look! Fire!" Caboose's voice called out from somewhere outside.
"Anybody got any graham crackers? Or marshmallows? Because could definitely use a snack right about now," Grif chimed in as the sound of another trooper removing his helmet and the wet sploosh of vomit hitting the ground. Carolina turned her head so that the both of them could see the dark red armor of Simmons on his hands and knees and the red of Sarge standing beside him, completely oblivious to Simmons' retching.
"Looks like Simmons requires some medical attention!" Donut said as Doc joined him in tending to the still-puking Red on the ground. "Okay, on a scale of one to fabulous, how do you feel right now?"
"He's not the only one…" Wash said quietly, which caused Carolina to quickly turn her attention back to the other Freelancer, who was now supporting himself in a sitting position while looking over at Carolina's outstretched arm on his shoulder. "And I thought the Mother of Invention crash was rough…"
Carolina grinned widely behind her helmet. "Says the guy who was fortunate to remain inside of it when it bounced off the side of that mountain."
Also, totally not my fault, as your boyfriend pretty much fucked up the navigation and engine systems before you and Tex decided to battle it out on the bridge, Epsilon added.
Did I ask your opinion? Carolina countered, her anger rising ever so slightly.
"Ouch…okay, point taken," Wash answered with a quick shake of his head.
"Think you can stand?" she offered as she extended her hand to her blue-armored partner.
"Eh…I can try," Wash replied as he took hers.
Pretty good grip strength he's got there, Epsilon commented as Wash's hand closed around hers and her heart rate increased slightly.
Years of throwing knives will do that, Carolina quickly retorted as she helped pull Wash to his feet, where he remained stable for about half-a-second second before grabbing wildly for an overheard bar for support and narrowly avoiding a chest-to-chest collision with her. "I take it back: standing might be a bit of challenge right now," he admitted as he took a moment to collect his bearings before he slowly made his way out of the escape pod.
"Maybe you should take it easy…" Carolina suggested from behind him, positioning herself so that she would be able to catch her fellow Freelancer in the event he lost his footing.
"AGENT WASHINGTUB! YOU'RE ALIVE!" Caboose cheered as Wash emerged out of the exit first, his arms full of small sticks and twigs. "Oh my gosh, we are going to have so much fun on our camping trip now!"
"Camping trip?" Wash asked, clearly puzzled as he gingerly lowered himself on a nearby fallen log, taking care to keep most of his weight on his non-injured leg.
Epsilon projected himself onto Wash's HUD. "Might have told him that in order to keep him preoccupied with searching for firewood," Epsilon quietly whispered as he took a look another look at their current surroundings. He'd managed to land in a small clearing within a dense rain forest. Projecting out in one direction was decent-sized swath of smoldering foliage stretching out in one direction, marking their entry and decent. Above them, the stars shone brightly, free from any light pollution. Scattered on the ground behind them were various parts of the escape pod that had broken off and now currently littered the landing zone. "Caboose, is that all you could find?" Epsilon asked as he turned his attention towards the wood-laden Blue.
"Oh, there's PLENTY more where that came from," Donut added as he joined the group, his own arms carrying substantially thicker pieces, which he dropped in front of everyone. "There wood here, wood there, wood everywhere!" he continued as he enthusiastically pointed around them.
"So, basically Blood Gulch all over again," Tucker said. "Which the Reds are already trying to recreate over there," he said as he pointed to the other side of the clearing. At the furthest point from the escape pod, Sarge was barking orders to Griff and a slow-moving Simmons about building a "base of operations" and "establishing their defenses" while Grif complained loudly.
"Mmmm…he's not wrong…for once," Carolina said in an approving sort of tone.
"Wait, what?" Tucker asked, clearly surprised with Carolina's sudden support of the Reds.
"Think about it Tucker: we're in the middle of a strange jungle, on a strange planet, and we have no idea what might be out there," Epsilon explained. "And as much as I hate to agree with the crazy red bastard over there, we should probably do something similar right here."
"Best not to put all our eggs in one basket…or in this case, one location," Wash added from his log.
"Oooh, eggs?" Caboose asked as he looked around Doc approached the group, his helmet tilted down at Wash.
"I could go for a plate of scrambled ones about now," Doc added as he squatted down to Wash's level. "Speaking of which, you yelled pretty loud when we landed, Wash…" he said as he scanned Wash's body with the glowing green tool of his.
"Thanks for asking, but I'm fine, Doc," Wash answered as he shifted in his seat.
Epsilon turned to Caboose and Doc. "Caboose, go get any part of the ship that fell off and bring it back here so we can build a fort with it, okay? Doc's gonna help you," he added pointedly as he turned to Doc.
"We are going to build the bestest Blue base EVER," Caboose answered excitedly before running off towards the edge of the forest.
"Copy that," Doc replied as he followed Caboose. "Caboose, wait up!" he called after Caboose, who had already started to pick a fairly large piece of debris.
"Donut, go gather up those parachutes and bring them back here," he began.
"Oooh, are we going to pitch some tents? Because if it's one thing I know how to erect, it-s"
Wash, Tucker, and Epsilon all groaned in unison at Donut's double entendres.
"We'll see…for now, just bring them back here," Epsilon finished.
"Aye, aye, sir!" Donut responded as he darted towards off in the directions of the chutes, which left just Tucker and Wash.
"You want me to patrol the area?" Tucker asked as he extended his sword with his usual flair.
"Hell no, Carolina and I need your help scavenging this ship for supplies," Epsilon answered. "Hopefully those space pirates stashed some MREs on these things, otherwise
"I'll sit here and keep an eye out," Wash said as he reached back for his scout rifle.
"You sure?" Carolina asked, concern in her voice once more.
He's fine, C, Epsilon said privately. At least, for now.
Care to elaborate on that 'for now'? Carolina inquired as she and Tucker began to scan the wreckage for anything salvageable.
We might not be alone…and check the outside hatch of the ship, we might find something useful, Epsilon replied as Carolina lowered herself to a squatting position in an attempt to find said hatch. Without prompting, Epsilon highlighted both hatches it for her.
Define "not alone, she continued as she began pulling at the handle, which didn't even budge.
Looked like some sort of spaceship crashed on a cliff a few kilometers away from here…thought I saw some sort of fire, too…and I'm pretty sure this thing is fused shut, you might want to call Tucker over, Epsilon advised as Carolina attempted to yank open the hatch door again.
I've got this, she answered as she made a second attempt, which was just as unsuccessful as her first.
"May I offer you my-" Tucker began from behind them, the sound of his energy sword filling their ears, "-services?"
Epsilon audibly groaned as he appeared on their HUDs. "Oh good, you'll be able to stick your junk someplace useful for a change," he said.
It was Carolina's turn to groan. "You're making too easy for him," she said as she stood aside.
"That's-what-she-said-bow-chicka-wow-wow!" Tucker replied between slashes. Within seconds, the hatch doors fell to the ground and revealed their contents: two large metal footlockers with the words EMERGENCY SUPPLIES emblazoned across them.
"Thanks for the help, Tucker," Epsilon said.
Tucker retracted his sword and reached for one of the trunks. "Well, seeing how the Reds are already building their own base, Caboose and Donut are off playing Boy Scouts, and Wash looks like he's been run over by a Warthog-" he began as he pulled the trunk from its compartment. It hit the ground with a dull metal clunk.
"-not an inaccurate statement!" Wash interjected from his log.
Hey look, his sense of humor's back. That's encouraging, Epsilon said optimistically as Carolina reached for other footlocker.
"-I figured I'd come help out the only other people who are capable of getting us out of here." Tucker finished. "Anything useful in here?" he asked as he unceremoniously pulled it free and let it crash to the ground with another dull clunk.
See, they're not completely useless, Epsilon said.
I never said they were, she replied. "Let's take a look," she said as went to work on prying open the first one.
###
So far, so good, Garrus thought to himself as he paused to scratch out another trailblazer mark on a nearby tree. In the past twenty-five minutes, he'd managed to cover about three miles, and the only heat signatures he'd come across were variants of previously-seen slumbering wildlife either concealed high in the branches of the trees or nestled snugly in the numerous small thickets that littered the jungle. (As an added navigation bonus, he'd also been able to follow the small stream that originated from a freshwater spring at the base of the Normandy's crash site.)
And not a bad pace, considering my semi-malnourished state, lack of physical training, and a month-old head wound...but to be fair, this would be considered cool back on Palaven, he thought as he consulted his thermal imaging again. Need to veer to the left a bit, he thought as he replaced his knife and resumed his jog. Above him, the winds from the approaching storm continually rustled the leaves around him as the rain began. The better to conceal my approach, then.
He turned his attention back to his thermal imaging once more, and noticed that there seemed to one larger, hotter signature surrounded by multiple cooler ones roughly 300 meters from his current position. Too bad this jungle growth makes direct line-of-sight scoping damn near useless, he though as he reached his sidearm, an old HMWP Master Pistol X that he'd held onto since his days aboard the original Normandy. (Tali had damn near laughed her mask off when she'd spotted it lying on his workbench.) As his talons curled around the grip, he could clearly recall her response when Tali had come to visit him just before their final invasion of Earth-
"-of all the weapons we've had access to, you chose to hold onto one of these?" she trills as she spots the Spectre-class weapon lying on his workbench.
Garrus finishes a brief message to his sister and sends it before turning away from his comm console. Across the battery, Tali stands with her back to him, examining the sidearm with a strange fascination.
"If you haven't noticed, I also held onto my old Mantis…" Garrus offers as he and motions at his old sniper rifle, which currently lay next to the pistol.
"Which I've noticed you've barely picked up since Shepard gifted you that Black Widow-" Tali comments as she placed the sidearm back down on the table-
Well, it would have been an insult to NOT use the quarter-of-a-million credit weapon that my girlfriend bestowed upon me right before we cured the genophage on Tuchunka now, wouldn't it? Garrus mused to himself as he continued his approach towards the largest heat signature. (Said Widow was currently collapsed on his back.) As the main signature grew larger, the smaller signatures around it began to take on more distinct shapes: whatever they were, they looked to be bipedal in nature, with a larger cluster of them gathered a few meters away from the main signature. On the opposite side of the first cluster, a second group was gathered, this one smaller.
I'd better radio Joker, Garrus thought as he scratched out another marker with one hand and brought his helmet radio online with the other.
"Big Stick to Normandy, come in," Garrus radioed.
Brief static filled his helmet. "Reading you loud and clear, Big Stick," Joker replied in a low whisper. "Find anything?"
"Looks like eight or nine heat signatures," Garrus reported back as he slowly crept towards the second group. A flash of lightning illuminated the darkness, and a few seconds later, it was followed by a deafening clap of thunder. That storm is nearly on top of us now, he thought as the winds picked up speed, and created a new challenge: dodging flailing branches. "Don't have a line of sight on them yet."
"Jungle-" –part of Joker's message was momentarily lost in static- "-thick?"
"Partially," Garrus said as one of the figures suddenly broke away from the second group. Instinctively, Garrus froze as said figure made a beeline towards him. Crap. They must have hacked into my radio messages. The rest of the second group followed the first as Garrus' stomach sank. Oh great, its bringing friends. "Joker, big problem: I'm about to have company," Garrus finished quickly as he hastily scratched out another trail maker with his knife. "Tell Ash to follow the turian translation of thulium's atomic number to find me."
"Compan-" Joker's voice abruptly ended as Garrus switched off his radio. As he did, he knelt down into his sniper's crouch while he concealed himself within a large, leafy fern as the skies broke open and the rain pummeled his armor.
###
Despite the sound of torrential rains,, thunder, and gale-force winds, Caboose's cheers of "NEW FRIENDS! NEW FRIENDS!" could still be made out as he pushed deeper and deeper into the surrounding jungle. And closer to whatever's tracking us, Wash thought as he jumped to his feet, the burst of adrenaline temporarily making him forget about his injury.
"You just HAD to fucking tell him something was nearby, didn't you?" Tucker cursed at Epsilon from beside him as Wash, Carolina, and Tucker stumbled into the thick jungle overgrowth and torrential downpour outside of their meager shelter. (Moments earlier, Epsilon had sworn he'd overheard a radio transmission of someone discussing their location, and this news had the unfortunate effect of triggering Caboose to run outside in search of said "new friends.")
"To be fair, totally thought I was only talking to Carolina," Epsilon snapped back, his projection and a blue dot representing Caboose appearing on all of their HUDs.
"Well, you weren't!" Tucker retorted as he and Wash struggled to keep pace with Carolina. (While the healing unit had repaired most of the injury, a dull pain would still shoot through his hip with every foot strike, and it was all he could do to keep up with Tucker, let alone Carolina.) "And now we not only have to find him, but whatever the hell is now fucking hunting US-"
"CAN IT, YOU TWO," Carolina shouted, which silenced both parties. "Epsilon, you have a fix on our visitor's location yet?"
"Caboose will," Epsilon "And as soon as he does, we just have to follow him."
"Remind me why we're following him, then?" Tucker snapped again as he and Wash jumped over a downed tree as lightening flashed across the sky.
"Because he has the-UGH-" Wash groaned as pain shot through his leg on the landing, -canny ability to stumble across the worse possible things for him?" Wash finished weakly as the pain slowly subsided.
"Dude, you still hurting?" Tucker asked.
"I'll be fine," Wash reassured him as he stood up again. Best not to worry him, right? Wash reasoned to himself as looked up to see Carolina standing in front of them and Epsilon on all of their HUDs.
"You don't look it," Carolina said, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Thanks for noticing," Wash replied dryly.
From somewhere on their left, Caboose yelled out ""TUCKER! WASH! I FOUND A NEW-ow-" Caboose's voice ended abruptly, which was followed by the sound of something metal falling to the ground.
"Son of a BITCH-" Tucker cursed as he snatched his sword from his side, lit it up, and tore off towards Caboose's marker, slashing at any branch in his way. "Hold on, Caboose, I'm coming!"
"Tucker, wait!" Wash called after him as he tore off after him, forcing himself to ignore the shooting pain in his hip.
"Wash, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Carolina shouted, her voice growing more distant. She's not following us.
"Saving my friends!" Wash yelled back through gritted teeth as he crashed through a few yards of foliage before being confronted by the sight of Tucker standing in front of Caboose's body, which was currently slumped against a nearby tree. In front of an angry Tucker and an incapacitated Caboose stood a bipedal creature clad in blue-and-gray armor, its helmet pointing back behind it. It was currently holding its arms up in what Wash guessed was a gesture of surrender. Sangheili…but that's a hell of a lot of upper body armor for one. Wash thought as he quickly took note of its raised three-fingered hands and the pistol in one of them. And that's not a standard Covenant pistol-
"You fucking bastard, you shot my friend!" Tucker screamed at their unknown invader, his energy sword glowing ominously in the dark.
A series of low-pitched bird-like humming shrieks emerged from the creature as it kept its hands raised, the weapon still in the air. While Wash's Sangheili wasn't the best, he immediately realized that this creature definitely wasn't speaking it.
Talking, not shooting…he wants to talk? "Tucker, stand down, he's trying to-!" Wash shouted, but his words were lost in a loud clap of thunder.
The invader glanced briefly at Wash as its left forearm began to glow orange. Without hesitation, Tucker lunged for it as he raised his sword arm up for his strike, but as he did so, a burst of sparks emerged from the invader's arm, which caused Tucker to drop to the ground and for his to sword deactivate. As both Tucker and the sword hilt hit the ground, Tucker uttered a pained groan. Incapacitated, but not dead-
The alien turned to face Wash, its orange arm now fading away but now aiming the pistol directly at Wash's head while attempting to communicate with the same angry shrieking noises again. Wash slowly mirrored the creature's actions with his own Magnum.
"None of us can understand you," Wash shouted over the rain. "Who are you, and what do you want?"
The creature tilted its head and paused for a moment, as if it was mulling over Wash's questions. It understands English…that's a start. With its right arm still extended, it reached underneath the back of its helmet and pulled it off, revealing a silver-plated, skull-like face that resembled armor and nothing like the snakelike heads of Sangheili sans armor. A closer inspection of the plated face revealed a distinctive lack of the Sangheili lower "split lips." (Instead, two movable mandibles extended from its jaw, but they thankfully lacked teeth.) A glowing visor that covered a portion of the alien's left eye, but its right eye and arm were both fixed on Wash's as it uttered the same low-pitched bird sounds.
Okay, Squawkers here understands us, but we can't understand it… He slowly lowered his sidearm and holstered it on his side, taking care to keep both his hands visible and uncomfortably aware of the creature's intense gaze. Carolina's gonna yell at me later, he thought as he reached for his helmet with both hands and pulled it off. "Agent Washington, Freelancer," he began. "Our escape pod landed on your planet by accident," he offered by way of explanation as he cradled his helmet in one arm while the rain poured down in rivers from the top of his head. He inhaled deeply throught. I forgot how good rain smells, he thought as he waited for the creature's next move.
The creature tilted its head to the side as if it was confused. "Hu-man?" it asked in a broken English,
Oh, goods, it speaks a little English. "Yes," Wash answered, his eyes locked on the creature's mandibles near the mouth flicked outward. "As are my well-meaning friends here," added as he pointed at the slowly reviving forms of Caboose and Tucker.
The mandibles near the creature's mouth flicked again as it glanced at the two blues on the ground while making a few barely audible squawking sounds. "Your...friends?" it asked again, the humming undertones still present. While its expression was hard to read, something in the pit of Wash's stomach sensed that this creature was highly suspicious of the blue simulation troopers.
Can't blame it, seeing how Tucker already tried to attack him. "
"Gar-" it began as another clap of thunder reverberated throughout the jungle, obscuring part of the creature's sentence "-ree-," it finished as it pointed to itself. The rolls of thunder barely allowed Wash to catch the last part of the creature's sentence.
Out of the corner of his eye, Wash recognized the air distortion that was indicative of someone using an active camouflage unit. Carolina. Shit. His gaze flicked involuntarily to the alien's right, and "Gary" (or whoever he was) immediately realized that he'd fallen into a trap.
With a final incoherent squawk, the creature's left arm turned orange and sparks emerged from its arm, causing to Wash drop like a rock as his armor locked up-
###
Should've known the bastard was trying to trick me, Garrus cursed himself as he fired off a series of concussive rounds at the large heat signature immediately to his right. As the shots struck their intended target, a pained female cry rang out as his thermal imaging faded away to reveal another sea-green armored solider standing in front of him, clutching it's arm in pain. "Son of a bitch, that hurt!" a distinctly feminine voice cursed as it shook its arm as if to shake off the pain.
Garrus paused. Female? The blue, light-blue, and other sea-green soldiers had all sounded male, but the sound of a distinct female voice caught him off guard.
"Dude, you're totally gonna regret that," a male voice added as a sea-green hand wrapped itself around Garrus' sidearm. Before Garrus had time to react, his assailant had yanked his pistol out of his grip and threw it into the brush, leaving Garrus weaponless. The Widow was no good in a close-quarter fight like this. Out of options, Garrus assumed his combat stance and deflected her next punch with his forearms. Spirits, this broad hits like a pissed-off Shepard, he thought as her leg connected with his omni-tool, which caused it to short out in a magnificent shower of sparks. Crap. There goes using Overload, he thought as his knee connected with her midsection, which propelled her backwards into a tree.
"Think you took out one of his weapons, C," a nasally male voice commented from what sounded like her body. A combat VI? But it sounds too…organic…
"Yeah, well it looks like he still has one on his back," she retorted as she threw herself back on her feet and started charging at him.
"Is it a sniper rifle? Because are totally stealing it if it's a sniper rifle!" the male voice commented as she planted one foot and brought her other leg around in a roundhouse kick.
Over my dead body, Garrus thought as he snarled as he swung upward and somehow caught his assailant's ankle, which clearly caught her off guard, as the male voice muttered a surprised "Oh shit."
"Pry it off my cold dead body first," he growled before he swung her around by her leg and sent her body flying through the air once more, where she struck a tree and dropped the ground with the a loud clunk. Out of the corner of his eye, the blue-and-yellow blond-haired male had somehow gotten back on his feet, yanked on his helmet back on, and had now assumed a defensive stance in front of the blue and sea-green soldiers.
"I can explain all of this if we could all stop trying to kill each other-" the blond began, his weaponless hands raised.
Garrus answered by snatching his turian military issued talon and cocking his wrist in preparation to throw it at this solider who had referred to himself as "Agent Washington." "Fool me once, shame on you," Garrus growled as he brought his arm back for the throw.
"Don't think he wants to talk there, Wash," the unidentified nasal-sounding voice commented from somewhere behind him. Garrus turned his head to the left and saw that the female was struggling to pull herself to a standing position.
How the hell is she up so quickly?! Garrus thought briefly as he snapped his head around to glance at Agent Washington before snapping his wrist and releasing the knife in a perfectly-timed throw. As he turned his attention back to the female, he heard a pained outcry and saw the Agent cradling his right wrist just on the border of his peripheral vision. And some turians think throwing knives aren't useful in a close-quarter fight-
"Wash!" the female cried out as Garrus turned his attention to her while simultaneously reaching for his Widow and switch that would fully expand it.
Good luck fighting with your dominant hand out of commission, Garrus thought as the Widow finished fully expanding. As it did, he took aim directly at the female's head.
"Shit. That IS a sniper rifle," the nasally voice commented again.
And the best one in Citadel space, he thought as he hovered a talon over the Widow's trigger. As he was about to pull it, he felt something pierce the non-armored gap between his right arm and shoulder (which caused him to flinch), followed by the warm sensation of blood, and the initial burn of medigel.
He dropped to his knees as he instinctively clutched the Widow's barrel in his left hand and used it as support. As he did so, he felt someone yank the knife straight out of his shoulder as Garrus felt more blood ooze from the wound and fresh wave of pain. His gaze towards the ground, Garrus watched as light blue boots entered his vision. Agent Washington, he thought as he glanced back up at his assailant, who was currently bracing his own red-stained right wrist next to his chest, but casually tossing Garrus' bloodied talon up and down with his left. Shit. Why didn't I realize he's left-handed?! he thought as he took a few steadying breaths.
"Nice throw," Agent Washington grunted as he threw Garrus' now red-and-blue stained knife at his knees. Garrus attempted to recover it, but the slight movement required of his shoulder for this protested with a minor throb of pain.
"Give your medigel thirty seconds to set before you attempt any other heroics, Mr. Vakarian," Dr. Chakwas's voice echoed somewhere in his memory from one of his many post-fight patch-up sessions with her. "Nice -" Garrus attempted to answer as a second blow struck his jaw and everything went black-
A/N: One benefit of COVID-19 social distancing and living in a climate that's still transitioning from winter to spring temperatures: More writing time? Once again, thanks for stopping by!