Of Clichés and Tropes

Chapter 1- Prelude: Tempest Movie Night

A/N- Feedback, especially regarding suggestions for improvement with descriptions and dialogue, is appreciated.

Sakura Ryder stood in front of the mirror above the sink in the bathroom of the Pathfinder starship Tempest.

Her jet black hair was damp from the shower she just took, sky blue eyes focused on her reflection, her earth-brown skin skin stood out in stark contrast to her blue and white Andromeda Initiative uniform.

She adjusted her hair and uniform, and satisfied, she walked to the door, hit the orange interface which turned green, unlocking the door, she headed out and down the hall to the Pathfinder's quarters.

The door opened on her approach and she entered.

Jaal Ama Darav, her Angara lover, sat on the bed with his back against the headboard reading a datapad. Charming blue eyes and purple-blue skin tone, graceful cowl and neck flaps, and blue rofjinn over his light blue loose-fitting Angaran-style shirt and shorts ending just above his knees.

He looked up to Sakura. "Darling one, how was the shower?"

Sakura smiled. "Felt good and refreshing. Thanks."

"Good to hear." The Angara paused. "Been reading a fascinating piece of fictional literature from your people. A novelization of the film The Shape of Water which Liam showed me a few days ago."

Sakura smiled. "Love that movie and book."

The intercom crackled and Liam Kosta's voice. "Everyone, to the vidcon room. Got a surprise for tonight!"

Sakura smiled. "Bet it's another movie night, we haven't had one since a few weeks before the Battle of Meridian."

Jaal placed the datapad on the bed and stood up. "Let's not keep him waiting. I am most curious to know what the surprise is."

Sakura turned to the door and it opened. "Let's go!"

Jaal followed close behind.

Liam Kosta's green eyes looked over everyone in the room, his jet black hair and earth-brown skin tone stood out in stark contrast to his standard Andromeda Initiative blue and white armor. "Considering what we went through in the Battle of Meridian...I feel we need a movie night."

Sakura smiled. "That's what I've been thinking too."

Liam nodded in her direction. "Any guesses to what the theme will be tonight?"

Jaal was first to speak. "Action and romance?"

Sakura looked to the Angara with a smile. "That's my guess too."

Nakmor Drack, a one thousand and six hundred year old Krogan Sakura had affectionately called 'grandpa', chuckled; his orange wide-set eyes on Liam. "With our Angara friend here. Something with action."

Cora Harper, the Pathfinder's blond haired, blue eyed Human teammate and second-in-command; spoke next. "Would love to see a flick with Asari commandos, so we all see how deadly they are when they do what they do."

Peebee, Sakura's close Asari friend, looked at Cora derisively with green eyes. The Pathfinder knew it was one of those teasing wars between her and Cora, her tone and subtle clues in her expression gave it away. "Boring! We've seen that before. Want something new!" It amazed the Pathfinder still how similar Asari were to Human females, the key differences being their skin tones and semi-flexible cartilage-based scalp-crests.

Cora looked in her direction with a glare, Sakura knew it was the teasing one she would throw at Peebee for dissing Asari Commandos, known as 'giving someone the evil eye'.

Vetra Nyx, the Pathfinder's Turian teammate who was also like a sister; crossed her arms, lowered her head with her eyes closed, and her mandibles held to the sides of her face, the Turian equivalent of a 'fold your arms, smile, and looked down with eyes closed' gesture. "A good Turian vid would be great."

Kallo, the Salarian pilot of the Tempest, was next, black eyes focused on Liam. "Should be short. The auto-pilot appears to have problems..."

Suvi, red-headed with light-green eyes, interrupted him. "Don't fret so much. And we have SAM too. And we're sitting right under the cockpit when we do movie nights."

Kallo sighed in reply. "Point given."

Doctor Lexi T'Perro, Asari, spoke. "Maybe a vid with Asari Justicars? I knew some friends who loved them. Yes, they're mostly inaccurate and wish fulfillment, but they're fun for the most part."

Gil Brodie, dark brown hair, light brown skin tone, and brown eyes, was next. "A vid made by one of the 'little guys', those just starting out. They deserve time too."

Liam smiled. "Some of you were close. This time the theme is horror." Liam picked up two vid cases. He raised the left one. "This is an old Human vid released in two thousand twenty one back on Earth- 'The Snatcher in the Shadows'."

Gil paused, in thought. "Haven't heard of that one."

Liam looked to him for a moment. "Most wouldn't. Got review bombed into the next millennium by trolls. I will explain as we watch." He then raised the other. "I had a major urge for an Angaran vid this time, especially after we watched Goda Tavetara; Lulea Reborn."

Jaal's eyes widened. "That's..."

Liam chuckled. "Jaal, sorry about that. It was your siblings when I asked what a good Angaran horror vid for tonight would be. They suggested this vid- 'Terror of the Stalker Hidden in Shadow'." His eyes were on Jaal. "They said you...were too scared to finish."

Jaal sighed. "Stars...I knew it." He smiled at the memory. "I was a young kid, seven years old. A little over a year before my father vanished. My older siblings dared me to watch it with all the lights off. One of my younger brothers was able to do so, finished it, but got terrible nightmares. Me? I...couldn't. Got too scared and ran to my truefather and truemother, and dreamed nightmares of it. And my older siblings teased me...relentlessly for a few months after." He looked at the vid in question in Liam's hand. "This time, I'll finish. I've come face to face with many horrors, including the Archon. As the hero of the Heleus cluster...it'd be embarrassing if I was too scared to finish a simple horror vid. And I would get teased relentlessly...again."

Liam shook his head. "I have the feeling your siblings will be eating their words this time."

Jaal smirked. "Idiom. And yes they will be."

Everyone was seated in the Pathfinder's quarters. Liam's couch was once again put to use as a seat, as well as additional cushions.

Sakura sat in the middle of the couch, Jaal to her left, and Drack to the right. Everyone else was seated on the floor on the cushions in various positions.

The vid Liam put into the player was shown on the large holographic screen.

It showed the title in red with lines dripping off that was supposed to be blood. 'The Snatcher in the Shadows'. An unnerving sound like a vast invisible something was soaring through the air. And a shadowy blackness spread over and engulfed the words.

Liam narrated as the movie played. "When I first watched it, it was horribly cheesy in many ways and clichéd, especially the dialogue and acting. But the characters weren't that bad, the special effects were good. And at least the director tried to be progressive." He continued while the doomed characters were undergoing the usual twenty minutes of character development. And investigating a mystery, a mystery of a monster that haunted the castle that was the main setting of the film. "There's a reason there's two characters of color and an Asian female. They tried to make the director have it all white, turned out the people suggesting them were also the trolls giving him trouble. As a 'screw you' he added two characters of color and an Asian woman. Though they demanded he'd use the 'black person dies first' trope. He won yet again when it was not the female of color, he wanted her and the Asian to be the final girls, or it was bust. He succeeded and the trolls suffered a partial loss, unfortunately their review bombing and convincing other to do so sank the movie and the director's career."

Sakura shook her head. "Wow...the nerve of some people..."

Liam sighed. "Some people really shouldn't be on the internet. Same with how some of the assholes we had to deal with should never have gotten a spaceship, or gotten into the Andromeda Initiative."

The movie played, and the black dude died first. They got to see what the monster was- a big scary bipedal figure with shadowy wisps coming off of it, blue glowing eyes, and a mouth of jagged shadowy spines and glowing a sickly green. It had two arms, the black dude fought hard, but he was overpowered, and had his back snapped on his knee, and tossed into a lake.

Sakura sighed. "That poor guy, wasn't even the jerkass. He was one of the nicest characters in the movie."

Eventually the monster had gotten into the castle, and tore someone apart who was hanging in the entrance hall. And it advanced up the grand staircase.

Eventually, the movie came to a couple having sex.

Vetra's mandibles clanged. "Do they know or don't know a monster is on the loose. Because if they know and..." She stopped when she saw the monster being sneaky.

The monster quietly opened the door.

Cora swore. "It can think!"

The monster snuck up on the couple laying in bed, making out. It snatched up the woman laying on the man with thready tentacles made of what appeared to be shadows, and its 'skin' opened up revealing a mass of shadows. The woman was screaming for help, for the man to save him, and he lunged towards her to save her but was tossed back by the thready shadows. The woman was absorbed screaming in terror. And the man attacked the monster, only to be grabbed and dragged in as well.

Liam spoke. "Characters having sex being killed...easy to find the trope in B horror films."

Gil shivered. "What exactly is that thing made of? Pure darkness?"

Liam looked to Gil. "It is part of the mystery."

Jaal looked to Sakura, then Liam. "That's...disturbing..." He saw that the survivors meet up. And one of the characters, who the audience knows is a jerk but the others are not in the know, had a red hat with strange lettering he couldn't identify. The red hat wearing character ended up launching what he knew were horrific slurs and was being a racist and sexist asshole. "I have a feeling karma is going to get him."

Liam laughed. "You have no idea just how hard its going to hit him."

Jaal focused on watching. The party split up. "That's one thing one should never do. Split the party and go solo. During Resistance missions, we usually stick to pairs. Unless we're being very, very stealthy."

Liam nodded. "Another thing in horror movies. Yes, sometimes a good idea. But not in this case, this monster will pick them off one by one."

Eventually, the red hat wearing character took the keys, without the knowledge of the others, and went for the car they came in with. He started it up, and drove off, and the others saw and screamed at him to come back.

Jaal's eyes widened. "What a skkutting monster, leaving his friends to the mercy of that...thing..."

Peebee was aghast. "Why would he leave them? The two absorbed appeared they suffered a truly awful fate...what if its like Exaltation, or getting your soul sucked out by a Dementor?"

It wasn't long before something shadowy blocked his path, and his car crashed into it, swerved seemingly of its own accord, and hit a tree.

Peebee cheered. "You got that coming!"

The monster approached the vehicle, tore the door off, and ripped out the screaming red-hat man. He brought him to a lit campfire, and used its power to reduce a tree to a wooden stake, drove it into the middle of the campfire, and made shadowy threads and tied the man to it. He was screaming for help as the monster walked away.

Jaal looked to Liam. "What did that lettering on his hat mean? Never seen it before."

Liam replied. "Back in the Earth year two thousand and sixteen, there was a progressive and regressive candidate for an election. The red hats supported the regressive candidate. The progressive candidate won thankfully despite the efforts of the regressive candidate's supporters. Hate tried to win, but lost at the end, but it had a bittersweet feeling as so many ended up under the thrall of the regressive candidate, and families were torn apart from the inside out. Can explain more after the movie, going more into detail would result in more questions."

Jaal nodded once. "I understand."

Eventually, the others were hunted down one by one, leaving the woman of color and the female Asian. The two women working together worked on sealing away the monster, finishing what an old wizard and witch failed to finish half a century ago.

And during their mission, it showed the red hat man, who was now screaming as the flames crept up the pole, and eventually engulfed him. He screamed and shrieks like no Human should while burning alive. And soon the screams stopped.

Drack chuckled. "If Varren and Vorcha were there, they'd likely eat him, though they might get sick."

The movie continued, and finished with the women sealing away the monster. And the ghosts of the witch and wizard trapped down there for half a century thanked them. And they would watch over the site of the sealing.

Liam smiled. "Not too bad, seen worse."

There was murmurs of agreement or friendly disagreement.

Liam stood up and replaced the disc with the one for the Angaran horror vid and sat back down. "Time for the second one."

The words of the vid came on, in Shelesh with subtitles- ' Terror of the Stalker Hidden in Shadow'. Then the words faded as if being 'dragged' into the shadows.

Sakura swore she saw the slightest hint of glowing eyes. "Is it me, or was there eyes in the darkness?"

Jaal looked at her. "I saw it too. Scared me as a kid..."

Sakura looked at Jaal. "Completely understandable, I'd freak if I saw it as a kid too."

Everyone watched as the movie continued.

It was showing a snowy planet.

Jaal took a deep breath. "I can do this. I am the hero of the Heleus cluster...and I won't run from a horror vid after I faced down the Archon."

Sakura's tone was teasing. "And you've got me and Drack to hide behind!" She winked.

Jaal chuckled. "I am not going to get that scared, darling one."

Sakura smiled. "We'll see!"

Night was falling in the movie, and an Angara Resistance team were heading to a daar. One team member expressed a bad feeling about the mission, that the people don't just vanish without a distress call or witnesses, that the Kett weren't usually this through.

The team captain reassured his subordinate by saying it could be a comms malfunction or they went into hiding. And that some daara do have hidden safe areas the Kett wouldn't find unless they're through.

Jaal looked at Sakura then Liam. "I'll say something when we get to the part I couldn't get past."

Liam smiled. "Bet it was spooky, this early in would mean one is a major chicken."

Jaal replied. "Chicken?"

Liam replied quickly. "A way of saying someone is afraid, scared."

Jaal. "Ah, I see."

The movie continued, giving character development to and showing the Angara squad going through the daar, night fast falling.

Cora looked to the others. "I have a bad feeling about this. Area mysteriously abandoned. No signal, nothing. I bet the monsters are there still."

Jaal had an expression, almost betraying the truth. "You might just be right Cora."

The movie continued, and when they entered one of the hidden safe areas, no one was here. And when they tried the comms, they only heard Tonaizhet, the Kett language.

Suvi spoke. "If I were them, I'd get out of there and return with backup, this is just way too creepy to not to."

Jaal was next. "This was before the...reveal of what they were really doing to our people."

Suvi shivered. "Still gives me the creeps."

The movie continued, the team headed into dark areas, flashlights only, and started seeing Kett tech along the walls, floors, and more. Then they heard screams, which caused two members of the Angara team to jump.

They headed to investigate, and it wasn't long before the chaos started. The captain was dragged through the ceiling by something, he started screaming in utter terror before being silenced.

Jaal shivered. "This was where I started to get too scared to continue all those years ago."

The rest of the team ran in terror, but found the way they came locked, then split the party.

Cora sighed. "Fear, it has grabbed their minds, clouded their judgment. I fear for them, they're probably going to get snatched...one by one."

Cora was proven right, for it was now down to one team member running terrified, tears running down his face.

He ran into a locked door, tried to open it, and banged on it, screaming in complete terror. The poor Angara cried out for his family, his ancestors, anyone to save him, to let him out of the place of horrors. Then something yanked him into the darkness, there was only the slightest hint of the darkness of Kett with bony armor, and glowing eyes. The poor Angara's screams of pure terror faded away before a deafening silence was cast.

Jaal had nearly jumped. "This was when I got too scared to continue...it was terrifying back then. And now...still scary."

Liam looked to the others. "The Angara really know how to make good horror vids..."

The others were in agreement.

Even Drack, the mighty Krogan spoke. "Everyone would likely hide behind a Krogan, or a powerful Asari."

Sakura laughed. "Or the Pathfinder!"

The movie continued, it was at a Resistance base now, the commander talking to a group of Angara, and one stood in front of the others, eight in total.

The commander spoke to the lead one with a solemn and stern look on her face, telling how they lost an entire unit the other night, they were missing. And that they couldn't afford to lose them if they could. Unfortunately the group was all they had for so many of the others were out on missions or off-world defending the Angaran homeworld. And most of the group except the one at the front were fresh rookies.

The female Angara, the leader, was told to get the unit out of there, don't stay and fight. Rescue and escape with the ones they rescued. And even though she accepted, there was some fear in her voice.

Liam looked to Jaal. "Has something like this happened? Having to send those on missions they wouldn't otherwise be sent on if there was enough people?"

Jaal looked down slightly, a sad look on his face. "Yes, but recently not anymore. Not with your APEX teams, especially with what the biotics can do."

Liam nodded once in sympathy. "Glad to hear things got turned around. The Kett likely ran in terror of the first biotics they encountered, the first ones who really let their powers rip."

The movie continued through giving the team character development as well. Then they went to the place, the same place, and entered where the last team did.

Suddenly, something black and bony lunged out of the darkness, and the team shot it down. They observed its corpse, now smoking and smoldering from multiple holes blown in by their assault rifles.

The creature looked like an Angara, but wasn't. It was black, bony, its eyes mostly black with dull blue pupils.

Jaal shivered. "Stars...skkutting stars..."

Sakura looked to Jaal. "In light of what we found...this film is...horrifying."

Liam looked to Jaal. "If I remember correctly, you said some theorized the Kett were turning your people?"

Jaal looked to his Human friend. "Yes. Very few, and their claims were brushed off. Too horrific and insane to consider. But after that facility..." He shivered and sighed "... no wonder my younger brother got nightmares after watching it."

Sakura turned her attention to the movie. "No wonder..."

The movie continued, the team wondered what happened to one of their own to become like a Kett, so much like one. And continued, investigating, killing more monsters. But eventually team members got picked off one by one.

It was now down to six which split into pairs of two, to destroy the place of horrors for good.

One pair ran into an Ascendant. The Kett knocked away one of the Angara with enough force to render her disoriented. And tackled another, grabbed a pair of syringes, and attempted to jam them into the Angara's chest right through his armor.

The Angara grabbed the needles, and tried to push the Kett off of him, but it was obvious he was losing the struggle. He cried out for help, for his teammate. But it was futile, and the Ascendant was laughing manically the whole time as the needles inched closer. The syringes pierced his armor, then his under-suit, and finally his chest. The Angara screamed in pain and the Ascendant pushed on the plungers with a wicked grin on its face.

The Angara's scream turned into one of utter agony, a sheet of black spread across his flesh from the penetration points, and bony armor violently burst forth tearing the Angara's under-suit and armor.

The other Angara regained consciousness, saw the Ascendant and her transforming teammate. And instead of allowing herself to fall to the same fate, and to spare her friend from fully turning, set off all her grenades, taking the monster and her teammate with her.

Sakura was leaning into Jaal, hanging onto him. "This vid's seriously giving me the creeps. Just creepy how close they were to actually what happens when...they do that."

Jaal had embraced the Pathfinder. "Same here...I don't think I'd have slept for a long time if I got this far back then."

Now they were four. The captain, a male Angara, and another male Angara whose female lover was there with him. They gained access to where they could destroy the facility. The other male died protecting the captain from one of the new horrific beasts shortly after gaining access to the area.

The captain stayed behind to ensure the place blew up, and told the male and female to run, so they could bring news back. And that they did, getting away from the daar and down a steep mountainside before the place of horrors exploded, sending the daar into the resulting cavity left in the ground.

The two survivors embraced, and kissed. It wasn't long before a drop ship with another team that had just finished their mission, picked them up, and was flying them to base. The two in each other's arms.

And the credits rolled.

Liam smiled. "A very good vid in my opinion, they earned their happy ending."

Jaal nodded. "Though much more...terrifying in hindsight of that facility. Not fully accurate, but if they remade this…"

Sakura shivered. "It'd probably win all the horror based awards."

Drack spoke next. "And a lot of people will be hiding behind Krogan or powerful Asari biotics. Or Pathfinders."

Liam turned to the Krogan. "Indeed."

The team had talked and hung out for a while after the movie, then they put everything away, and turned in for the night.

And now Sakura and Jaal were laying in bed in the Pathfinder's quarters.

Sakura snuggled in close to Jaal. "Had a good movie night, even if that last vid got utterly terrifying."

Jaal smiled. "As did I."

Sakura looked into his eyes. "Hope you don't have any bad dreams of the vids, especially the one with the Kett."

Jaal smiled. "If I do, at least I have you."

The Pathfinder smiled as well. And closed her eyes to drift off to sleep.

Sakura Ryder opened her eyes and stretched. Slept so good. What a great movie night, just like all the others.

She sat up and looked to her right. Jaal was still sleeping soundly.

SAM was heard in her head. "Pathfinder, incoming urgent transmission from Kandros to the vidcon terminal."

Sakura stood up to her feet quietly. "Any idea what it's about?"

SAM was heard. "Only to contact him as soon as possible."

Sakura quickly hurried to the vidcon console down the hall and upstairs to the third deck.

With a button press, and a few moments, Kandros's image appeared on the other side.

The male Turian spoke, his white brows and eyes betraying the situation. "Glad to hear from you, Pathfinder. We've got a problem."

Sakura's expression was serious. "Did something happen?"

Kandros quickly replied. "Not at the moment. But something is going to happen soon if we don't act soon." He brought up a holographic image of a planet, Sakura recognized it as Eos. "A Kett cruiser is gathering remaining Kett on the planet, we presume it to be one of the stronger Archon loyal forces. I fear what they are planning. There's the possibility they're going to flatten Prodromos itself. And possibly other outposts."

Sakura looked at the hologram. "We'll start heading there straight away to help. I didn't get this far just for those bony bastards to destroy what we fought so hard to achieve."

Kandros nodded. "Same here. Will be there." The hologram blinked out.

The Pathfinder knew that even with the Archon dead, the remnants of his forces still plagued the cluster. And the Primus and her forces were still in hiding, likely waiting for backup which was years away. And worse, what they and their allies, the Angara, defeated was only a small invasion force from an empire with an unknown military size and strength.