Shepard cracked her neck as she double checked her thermal clip count. She sat in a packed pelican cargo hold, filled with every member of the Legion of the Damned. Everyone sat in professional silence as they prepared for their largest operation yet.
It was going to be a two pronged assault. Snake would take Fireteam Fox, consisting of himself, Thane, and Sev on a sneaking mission to the Capitol Building. They were to infiltrate it, find the Metal Gear, and either destroy it or escape with it. Meanwhile, Shepard would lead Fireteam Wolf, consisting of herself, Sarah, and Six, and Fireteam Doberman, consisting of Pyrrha, Galen, and Wynne, on a direct attack on the Temple of Order.
So as T3 piloted the pelican into Super Mutant territory, the Legion all triple checked their new equipment, as the difficulty of the upcoming missions resulted in a series of upgrades being passed out.
With her new Geth plasma shotgun in her hands, her N7 Eagle Heavy pistol at her side, and her fancy new power axe on her back, Shepard was ready for war. Topping off her new set of weapons, Shepard was now sporting her Blood Dragon Armor, a sci-fi spin on classic fantasy knight armor, consisting of silver-grey armor plates over a faux-chainmail mesh undersuit, complete with a faceless helmet sporting an aggressive blood red V-shaped visor. The armor provided stronger shielding than her previous armor, as well as a microframe computer that buffed her biotics.
Around her, her allies were putting the final checks on their loadouts as well. To Shepard's left, Sarah sat in her T-45d power armor, enhanced with both kinetic barriers and her own aura. In her hands she held her personal gatling laser, giving the barrels a few test spins, and on her back was her super sledge. To Shepard's right, sat Six. On his back, he had his usual UNSC-issue DMR, along with the Gravity Hammer he took as a trophy long ago. In his hands however, was a UNSC M247H Heavy Machine Gun with a high capacity mag, ripped right off of its tripod. Much heavier ordinance than what he normally carried, but for the mission they were going on it was necessary.
By the end of the cargo hold, closest to the door, sat Snake and Fireteam Fox. Snake opted to trade out his normal BDU for a suit of N7 body armor, the hardsuit giving more ballistic protection thanks to the futuristic materials and built in kinetic barriers. He was equipped with suppressed variants of the UNSC SMG and sniper rifle, both of which he felt packed more of a punch than his Soviet-era equipment. Sev meanwhile sat in his usual Katarn-class commando armor, his DC-17m blaster on his back, and his M-98 Widow anti-material rifle in his hands. Unlike the others, Thane had no equipment upgrades, still wielding his trusty M-97 Viper sniper rifle, M-6 Carnifex pistol, and his Chinese officer sword. However, his previously unlocked aura gave him a powerful boost to his strength, speed, and defense.
Across from Shepard sat Fireteam Doberman, who besides Shepard herself, had the most extreme changes to their arsenal. The trip to Ilos and the resulting raid on the Geth camp provided the Legion with enough spare armor and equipment for all of their outfits to be enhanced. Pyrrha still held her normal weapons, Miló and Akoúo̱, along with her crimson lightsaber on her belt, but her outfit had undergone drastic modifications. Beneath her corset and existing armor, Pyrrha now sported a dark red, form fitting ballistic mesh undersuit, similar to clothing worn by Shepard's allies like Kasumi or Miranda. The suit provided protection from small arms fire to all of her previously exposed skin, adding on additional protection to her aura and kinetic barriers. In addition, two black and red Terminus Assault Armor shoulder pauldrons, which had a pseudo-fantasy Black Knight style, protected her upper arms and further enhanced her shields.
Similarly, Galen's normal dark clothing was enhanced with a variety of armor from Shepard's universe. Over his normal apprentice uniform, Galen wore several pieces of the Terminus Assault Armor as well, namely the jagged black and red vambraces, greaves, and breastplate, providing him with additional protection and shielding. Lastly Wynne had ballistic mesh fabric woven into her robes, lightweight polymer plates layered over to protect her vitals, and had a belt worn kinetic barrier module to top it all off.
As the Legion sat in contemplative silence, they soon reached their first destination, a previously cleared set of ruins on the outskirts of DC itself. Long ago, Sarah had identified it as one of the several DC Metro stations, and the Legion had captured it, turning it into a waystation and secret entrance into the more densely populated DC ruins.
With a hydraulic hiss, the cargo bay of the pelican opened up as Fireteam Fox made their exit.
As they left, Shepard stood and offered her hand out to Snake before he departed. "Good luck down there Boss. Give 'em Hell."
Snake gave a simple nod of his head and gripped her hand back. "You too." was all he said in return, shaking her hand and jumping out of the pelican.
Shepard wasn't insulted by the bluntness of the Boss, she knew that was just the way he was. Instead she simply returned to her seat, flushing any thoughts of worry about them out of her mind. Worrying about them would be a distraction, one she didn't need. Plus she knew that they were good enough that any type of concern was unfounded.
The rest of the Legion left the LZ and began to make their way to the second drop point, the Temple of Order to the North of the DC ruins, far deeper into the faux Capital Wasteland than any of the Legion had traveled before. The droning roar of the pelican engines was only broken up by the sporadic peppering of small arms fire from super mutants below. With a whirl and click, T3-M4 let out a burst of technobabble letting Shepard know that they were approaching the second LZ.
Shepard stood up and made her way to the cockpit, giving her her first view of the Temple of Order. Located near the horizon, the temple was a single, massive monolithic obelisk, several stories high, with what looked like a blast door on its Southern face. The monolith itself was surrounded by barren flatland, devoid of any native flora, and heavily entrenched by the super mutants. Around the temple, the super mutants formed 3 rings of trenches, creating concentric layers of defense. Scattered between the primary defensive lines were a series of bunkers filled with heavy weaponry, and connecting trenches that allowed for traversal between the rings. Obviously the super mutants realized this building had some kind of importance, and had taken up residence in the surrounding area.
As the Pelican began its descent towards the ruins, the super mutants must've spotted them as the base's defenses opened fire. Unlike the previous scatterings of small arms fire, a series of machine gun nests and even rocket launchers all fired at the dropship.
T3 let out an electronic scream as he began evasive maneuvers. Shepard held on tightly to the pelican's interior and called out to the rest of the passengers. "Everyone hold on! We're coming in hot!"
T3 shifted the pelican to the right with a sharp turn, narrowly dodging a rocket as the pelican's missile pods opened up. Activating his targeting computers, the utility droid locked on to a bunker and squad of super mutants on the southern edge of the base. With an electronic command, a series of missiles flew from the pelican, bombarding the mutants and destroying the structure.
The missile strike gave T3 the opening he needed to swoop the pelican in and drop off its payload. Rapidly flying the pelican straight down towards the ruined bunker, T3 was only a few dozen feet off the ground before he pulled up and activated the pelican's thrusters to slow down. The G-forces at the sudden deceleration were intense, but nothing the legionnaires couldn't handle.
The pelican now hovering only a few feet off the ground, began firing its chin-mounted chaingun, giving a suppressing fire as the cargo hold opened up. The legionnaires immediately rushed out, landing South of the first defensive trench.
The payload deployed, Shepard immediately had T3 take off once again. This battlefield was too dangerous for the Pelican to stay for extended periods of time, and she didn't want their only way out of here getting shot down.
As the pelican took off, immediately the super mutants in the first defensive trench opened fire as they were no longer in danger of getting shredded by the chain gun. Bolt-action rifles and assault rifles opened fire on the Legion. They were supported by a single adjacent bunker which housed a minigun by the amount of ammunition it was firing. Immediately the Legion took cover behind scattered rubble and sandbags of the bunker the pelican destroyed.
"Six, Sarah! Covering fire!" Shepard ordered, and the two super soldiers immediately unleashed a barrage of bullets and lasers towards the trench, forcing the mutants into cover. As the two powered armored warriors drew all of the fire and aggro of the mutants, Shepard turned to the members of Fireteam Doberman and barked out, "I want that bunker gone!"
Pyrrha and Galen nodded as Wynne immediately began chanting the spell Heroic Offense. Raising her staff, an orange glow seemed to permeate from Wynne, which then moved onto Pyrrha and Galen's forms. Both of the two warriors found their physical strength swelling, and immediately moved to capitalize on their new buff.
The two superhumans leapt out of cover and ran around for the bunker. Only stray shots threatened to hit them as all of the super mutants in the bunker and trenches were too preoccupied with shooting at Six, Sarah, and Shepard. With great haste the huntress and jedi slipped into the trench.
Galen took point, running forward he activated his lightsaber and dashed towards two super mutants that were between him and the bunker. His first slash easily bisected the first frankenstein, killing it instantly. When the second saw Galen, it tried to aim its gun at him but found itself literally disarmed as starkiller's lightsaber chopped off both of its limbs.
Pyrrha didn't even take a second to pause at the carnage as she moved passed the mutants and into the bunker. Within the bunker she saw the operator of the minigun, it was a hulking super mutant overlord, easily a foot taller and far more heavily armored than its normal super mutant brethren.
The overlord glanced at Pyrrha as she entered, and moved to aim its minigun at her. But Pyrrha was too fast. Using her semblance, her magically buffed strength, and a fire dust round for extra propulsion, Pyrrha threw her spear right for the overlord's torso. The insane velocity of the thrown weapon allowed it to pierce the mutant's scrap armor and embedded itself several inches into its torso.
The overlord stumbled back, obviously wounded by the attack, and moved its massive hand to try and yank the spear out. But Pyrrha was not finished as she continued to run for the overlord, using her semblance to pull her spear back herself. With a sickening schlick Miló withdrew from the yellow mutant, causing a fountain of blood to spray out of its chest. Pyrrha then ran into melee with the overlord, stepping off its leg to launch herself into the air, bringing her to head height with the monster. As she floated in the air Pyrrha spun like a tornado, decapitating the overlord with a single swing.
With the heavy fire from minigun removed, the rest of the Legion now had the opportunity to push forward. Focusing her biotics into her body, Shepard biotically charged into the super mutant trench, crushing a super mutant's head with her fist. Two nearby super mutants were taken aback by the spectre's sudden appearance, and were too slow to raise their weapons in defense. Shepard whirled around, withdrawing her fist from the brainmatter of the first super mutant while simultaneously drawing her plasma shotgun. A quick pull of the trigger shot 3 ionized plasma balls right for a super mutant brute's face. The superheated gases immediately vaporized its helmet, then its face, then the rest of its head as it exploded on impact.
The second mutant swung its assault rifle like a club at Shepard, who unfolded her omni-blade, blocking the attack and cutting the gun right in half. The super mutant looked at its ruined gun dumbfounded, when Shepard then hit it in the knee with her plasma shotgun, bringing it down to her height. A second point blank shot on the monster's torso killed it instantly.
Shepard's rapid charge gave enough of a pause for the rest of the legion to push up unabated. Sarah and Six pushed out, fingers never leaving their triggers as they advanced. After cutting down two more brutes, Six heard the familiar series of dreaded clicks as his machine gun ran empty. Not having time to reload, Six rapidly swapped to his gravity hammer, magnetically holstering the gun on his back.
Leaping into the trench right behind Shepard, Six brought his hammer down right onto the head of a super mutant, the artificial gravity shredding it to pieces. Setting his armor enhancement to enhanced speed, he charged a second mutant that attempted to put him down with rapid machine gun fire. Six's shields flashed and glowed yellow as bullets pinged off of him. But thanks to his speed he entered melee with the mutant before his shields were even brought down to half. Six swung the grav hammer with an uppercut that smashed through the mutants gun, then erased its entire upper body upon impact.
Sarah and Wynne followed up next, sliding into the trench besides Shepard, laser beams and arcane bolts making quick work of any nearby mutants. Together, they are able to secure the first trench, completing the first step towards victory. But a victory party would have to wait, as the super mutants of the second trench would not go quietly into the night.
With all of the super mutants in the first trench dead, those in the second no longer had to worry about friendly fire, and fired everything they had. Super mutants in the trench combined heavy suppressing fire with all of the explosives they had at their disposal. Grenades and rockets began shelling the area around Shepard, fragmentation and explosive heat blasting their position. Their auras and kinetic barriers gave some protection, but a direct hit would still be lethal.
Forced to hunker down, Shepard called out to Galen and Pyrrha over her radio. "Doberman! We're pinned down, we need you to break through their line!"
Pyrrha, who was still within the bunker next to Galen, felt her eyes go wide at the order as she looked down at her rifle. "I… don't know if I have the fire power to do that." She admitted to the jedi.
Galen looked at her, then at all of the dead super mutants around them and chuckled. "I think you just need to be more imaginative with your power."
Meanwhile Shepard did the best she could to return fire against the super mutants' overwhelming force. Shepard raised her gun out of the trench, blind firing plasma wherever she could. Wynne placed an arcane defensive buff around Six and Sarah, allowing them to periodically peek out and return fire with their heavy weapons. But the bunker on the second trench was doing too good of a job suppressing them, the minigun and rocket launcher fire forcing them to maintain cover.
Amidst the chaos of the battle, Shepard did not hear the sounds of rubble shifting and moving behind. As she fired her shotgun and incinerated a mutant too slow to dodge, she noticed a massive grey form move in her periphery. Turning her head, she saw a massive boulder of stone and scrap from the destroyed bunker and trenches floating forward. Behind it, Galen was focusing the Force to lift the junk ball up, using it as a shield to block the super mutants' attacks. Even with their rockets and miniguns, they couldn't destroy what was essentially a mass of solid stone.
Galen then stepped forward and pushed both his hands out. The boulder then flew forward, spiraling and smashing into the second trench's bunker, annihilating it and breaking open the trench, destroying much of the cover that the super mutants were using. As the super mutants, many of which dove to the side to avoid the attack, collected themselves and stood, Pyrrha strode forward with both of her hands raised as well.
Shepard's jaw dropped as alongside Pyrrha, were dozens of floating hunting rifles, assault rifles, and even miniguns, all being held up with her semblance. With the super mutants out in the open, Pyrrha let out a mighty battle cry as all of her levitating weapons opened fire. A massive hail of bullets rained down on the mutants, thousands of rounds shredding anyone not in cover. As Pyrrha roared, Galen moved in front of her with his lightsaber active, twirling it and deflecting any stray pot shots from hitting the huntress.
The super mutants in the second trench were shocked and caught utterly off guard by such an impressive display of power. As the polarized fires cut down mutant after mutant, Shepard drew her power axe and let out a mighty battle cry, biotically charging forward into the fray once again. Joining the momentum, Six and Sarah drew their gravity hammer and super sledge respectively and charged as well. A final spell from Wynne boosted their strength once more as they engaged in melee.
Shepard tackled a super mutant master with her biotics, sending it stumbling backwards as she raised her power axe up. Flicking the switch found on the bottom of the axe's shaft, a lethal corona of energy surrounded the blade. With a single swing the axe cleaved through both armor and meat with ease, bisecting the super mutant.
Three more mutants charge her, armed with hammers and whatever scrap they could find. Her biotics recharged, Shepard raised the three brutes into the air, levitating them helplessly. Shepard could feel the impending headache as she strained to hold them all in place. And as they floated helplessly, a shadow appeared above them as Six had leapt into the air above them, bringing his hammer down. A single swing smacked into the center mutant, spiking him into the ground with the power of his own enhanced strength and the artificial gravity. The grav-hammer's wave of artificial gravity then reacted to Shepard's biotics, triggering a chain explosion that killed the other two mutants.
Behind Shepard, Sarah was a tornado of steel and violence as she cleaned up the rest of the mutants. Every swing of her super sledge was enhanced three fold with her power armor, aura, and magic buff. Sarah smashed through a super mutant's own sledge hammer, hitting it in the arm and making said limb explode. A follow up swing on the next mutant slammed it on its chest, causing the entire body to burst in a bloody mess. Together, the three of them wasted no time securing the second trench for the Legion.
With the second trench secure, Pyrrha dropped all of the firearms she was levitating, and moved to rally alongside Shepard, with Galen and Wynne not far behind them. The mutants in the final trench were occasionally firing off shots in small bursts, but the Legion could tell they were breaking. Terrified by the staggering display of power that slaughtered their allies, several mutants were already retreating into the temple itself, leaving the third trench exposed.
"Alright, we have the momentum, but don't get cocky! Get ready to push on the next trench on my mark! Mark!" Shepard barked.
"Sync!" Her allies responded.
As Shepard was about to leap out of the trench and begin her next charge, she felt the ground shake, freezing her in her place.
"Hold!" She called out putting up one fist and sliding into cover within the trench. Her allies around her did the same, waiting behind the cover to see what was coming.
The ground shook again, this time louder and more powerful. Then a third, then a fourth, a pattern of rhythmic pulses that Shepard could only identify as one thing, footsteps. Aiming down her sights at the Temple, Shepard's eyes widened as the blast doors of the temple opened, and sauntering out was not one, but two super mutant behemoths. 30 foot tall, yellow, muscular monstrosities with armor forged from car parts, wielding massive clubs fashioned from fire hydrant pipes.
The two behemoths looked at the Legion, their simple minds devoted to only crushing the intruders. With a roar, the behemoths charged.
"Scatter!" Shepard yelled as the two behemoths made a b-line right for them.
Fireteam Wolf shot right while Fireteam Doberman ran left, splitting the attention of the behemoths between them. One behemoth moved after each squad as they ran, separating them and putting distance between them.
As they ran, Wynne channeled one of her more powerful spells, Haste, and cast it on Pyrrha and Galen. The duo felt their bodies surge with magical power, increasing their offense, defense, and speed all in one go. With its long stride however, the behemoth caught up quickly to them and swung its fire hydrant club right for Galen.
Without sparing a single glance, Galen jumped, flipping over the swing and landing on the behemoth's right arm. Immediately he began to run up the monster's limb, swinging his lightsaber all the while, carving out chunks of flesh with each twirl. The behemoth roared and swatted its other hand at Galen to knock him off. But Galen flipped over it once again, gracefully dodging the attack. As Starkiller was in mid-air however, the behemoth then stepped forward and drove its head into the assassin, spiking him back down to the ground.
As Galen bounced off the ground, the behemoth raised its fire hydrant to squash the Jedi. But its attack was stopped when a red and bronze spear pierced its chest as Pyrrha threw her weapon with a recoil enhanced throw. Miló sunk deep into the behemoth's torso, but was far from enough to kill it.
The behemoth swung its club at her in retaliation, a wide horizontal swing that would easily turn her into paste, aura or not. Bending over backwards, Pyrrha just barely dodged the attack as her body went parallel to the ground. Flowing into a backhand spring, she quickly flipped backwards, bringing herself up right. She then threw her shield with all her might, the spinning disc slamming into the behemoth's face, and staggering it back.
Raising her hands up, Pyrrha then paused to recall her weapons. As her weapons flew into her hands, the pause was more than enough of an opening for the behemoth to capitalize on. The behemoth used its left hand to grab onto the unmoving huntress. Pyrrha struggled in its grip as it lifted her into the air, and then threw her onto the ground as if she was a ball. And like a ball the force of the throw smashed Pyrrha into the ground and caused her to bounce back up into the air. While she floated in the air, the behemoth swung its club and smacked her with a home run swing, sending her flying backwards. The impact broke both her kinetic barriers and her aura before sending her crashing onto the ground several dozen feet away.
With no time to pause and help her, Galen and Wynne ran passed the huntress and unleashed a torrent of ranged attacks. On the behemoth's right Galen seared it with a storm of Force Lighting, while on its left Wynne repeatedly fired arcane bolts. As the behemoth's flesh seared under the attacks, the monster raised up its leg and stomped hard onto the ground, sending a shockwave through the earth that knocked Wynne off balance, ending her attack.
Annoyed that the stubborn beast wouldn't die, Galen allowed his anger to rise and used the Dark Side to strengthen himself. With a single leap, Galen reached the behemoth's face, and with a single slash carved a mighty scar onto it. The behemoth cried out in pain, bringing its hands to its face as Galen began to fall. As he fell, Galen then drove his lightsaber into the behemoth's sternum. The lightsaber pierced the chest, but remained stationary, stuck on the monster's tough bones, keeping him from falling any further.
Using his lightsaber like a gymnastic's bar, Galen muscled himself up, using the Force to propel him into the air once again. Leaping above the behemoth, Galen landed on its head and drove the lightsaber down right through its skull. Despite having a lightsaber in its brain, the behemoth kept moving, swinging wildly. Channeling the Dark side Starkiller then released another torrent of Force Lighting, this time directly into the behemoth's brain.
The flighting sent shockwaves of pain through the monster, causing it to drop its fire hydrant club. Back on the ground, a battered Pyrrha stood snarling, recently brought back to consciousness by Wynne's healing magic. Fueled by anger, Pyrrha called upon her semblance to lift the fire hydrant into the air. Throwing her hand forward the fire hydrant flew, spearing the stunned behemoth through the chest, impaling it. With a groan and gurgle, the super mutant behemoth took a single step back, before falling to the ground dead.
Meanwhile, Fireteam Wolf were struggling against their behemoth foe as well. Sarah kept her distance from the monster, spraying her gatling laser against its tough hide, hoping to whittle it down with sustained fire. While death by a thousand laser bolts was a sound strategy in theory, the behemoth didn't seem to care as it just shrugged off the laser beams and made its way towards Sarah.
The behemoth took two steps towards the sister of steel before a loud vhoom echoed through the air as Six slammed his gravity hammer into the back of the behemoth's left leg. Having ditched his machine gun for speed, Six then activated his enhanced speed and maneuverability armor ability and retreated before the behemoth could retaliate.
The behemoth fell to one knee at the impact, and as it turned to face Six, it didn't see Shepard charging up her biotics from its blindspot. Exploding with a powerful biotic charge, Shepard slammed into the face of the behemoth, knocking it back and sending it crashing to the ground. His opponent now prone, Six moved in to execute the monster with a grav-hammer strike to the head.
But even on the ground a super mutant behemoth is a deadly foe. As Six approached, the mutant shot out its hand and gripped the Spartan. Before Six could even attempt to break out, the behemoth used its overwhelming power to fling Six across the battlefield. Ragdolling through the air, Six quickly set his armor enhancement to armor lock, freezing and protecting his body as he crashed into a nearby trench.
After throwing Six away, the behemoth rolled to stand, placing one arm on the ground to push itself up. Shepard was quick to jump on the recovering behemoth, swinging her power axe and cleaving two huge gashes into its arm. The mutant roared in pain as the power axe cleaved all the way to its bone. Closing its fist, the super mutant used its off hand to uppercut Shepard, sending her flying through the air before landing on the ground.
Prone and in immense pain, Shepard could barely move as the behemoth stood above her, raising its fire hydrant club to finish the job. Shepard strained to reach for her plasma shotgun or her power axe, anything to get her out of this situation as the mutant brought its club down.
"NOOO!" Shepard heard a voice call out next to her.
It was Sarah Lyons, running and placing herself in between the behemoth's strike and Shepard, arms raised to block the attack.
"Lyons! Get out of here!" Shepard cried out. There was no point in both of them getting crushed to death.
Without pause the behemoth brought its fire hydrant club down on the two women, the bludgeon smashing right into Sarah. However, the behemoth did not see the puddle of meat and scrap it had expected. Instead it saw that the Brotherhood of Steel Sentinel not only blocked the attack, but was completely unmoved.
Shepard's eyes went wide as she saw that Sarah's exposed face and hair were now completely covered in a grey, steel like substance. The commander immediately knew what had just happened. Sarah had unlocked her semblance, apparently the power to turn her flesh into steel.
The behemoth was shocked as well by the fact that a small person was able to stop its attack. Its shock only grew as it realized that Sarah was forcing it back, overpowering the behemoth. Apparently, her new steel semblance not only granted her superhuman durability, but strength as well.
Grabbing onto the club with both arms, Sarah yanked the weapon from the behemoth's grasp, and swung it back at the beast. The fire hydrant crashed upon the monster's face, breaking several bones and sending teeth flying. The strike knocked the behemoth down to the ground once again, dazed and confused at how the tables were turned against it. The behemoth looked up, shaky and seeing double, as two images of Six stood over it. Raising his hammer up over the confused behemoth, Six pulverized the monster's face with an artificial gravity explosion, killing it instantly.
With the two super mutant behemoths dead, the Legion were quick to regroup. As they did most eyes turned to Sarah's new steel covered form.
"Sarah!" an exhausted Pyrrha happily called out. "You unlocked your semblance! And it looks to be quite the powerful one at that."
Sarah was in the process of pulling off her gloves and examining her hands, both of which were also covered in metal. Even her hair seemed to solidify into a single piece of metal. Poking her own skin with her finger, she barely even felt the impact, and the colliding pieces of metal clanged as expected. But even though her skin was made of metal, it didn't appear to impede her movement or range of motion at all. Sarah then focused, and naturally her metallic form appeared to recede, returning her hair and skin to their usual forms.
"Yeah. That was pretty awesome." Sarah mumbled back in amazement.
As she did Shepard came up and patted her on the back. "Congratulations Lyons. When we get back I'll be sure to get you a bottle of car wax." Sarah tried to scowl at Shepard's joke but couldn't help smirking as well. Shepard then turned to Wynne. "We took some damage in that fight Wynne, you have anything you can use to help?"
"I do have a spell for such an occasion Commander." Wynne said as she raised her staff into the air, casting a Mass Heal spell. The effects of the spell were immediate as the wounds and aches the Legion sustained during the combat were healed. A follow up spell, Mass Revitalization, returned the Legion's stamina to them, and even replenished the aura levels for Pyrrha and Sarah.
"God I love magic." Shepard grinned as the pain of her probable broken ribs faded.
"Those spells expended quite a bit of my energy." Wynne huffed. "I can still go on, but I would not suggest anyone taking any major injuries that would require more powerful spells until I've had a chance to rest."
"You heard the lady people, look alive, stay alive!" Shepard barked out "Now form up! We don't know what's inside this Temple but we're the ones getting the drop on it, not the other way around."
Now revitalized, the party fell into formation at the entrance of the Temple of Order, and with one foot in front of the other entered into the unknown.
A/N, 4/5/20: Feels like it's been a long time since I did a big battle like that for this story. I always enjoy writing giant, cinematic action scenes like this. Anyway, with this we have the first of the Legion's new semblances unlocked!
I have named Sarah's new semblance Bonds of Steel, based on the Fallout NV perk that Veronica can get. When she uses her semblance, she can temporarily cover herself in an organic steel substance, much in the same way Colossus from the X-Men can. This form increases her defensive durability and her physical strength by magnitudes, but is tied to her aura levels however. The longer she stays in that form, the more aura she burns, until she is out and she reverts to normal.
Review Responses:
Ptl: Ciaphas Cain is one that has been requested before, but I haven't read any of his books and I feel like I wouldn't do a good job representing him if I brought him in. I do have a w40k character ready to be brought, just got to get to that point in the story.
Arcanis7274: Dom was actually one character I thought about adding in when I was coming up with the Legion initially. But I'll be honest, with the way Dom died and everything he had to go through, I kind of felt bad about making him keep fighting after death, and decided to let the poor man rest.
Omegashark18: Don't worry, I do have plans for adding in several more legionnaires. The main thing I wanted to do first was give the existing characters a few chapters of characterization and interaction, so they don't get reduced to Side Character A whose sole existence is to fight, and do nothing else but that.
And with that, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, stay safe and healthy out there in these crazy times, and I'll see you in the next one!