Me: Guess who's back-back-back, back again-gain-gain, Delta's back-back-back, tell yo friends-friends-friends. Yes he's back, Yes he's back, yes he's back, Yes he's back, yes he's ba-
Delta: SHUT UP THEY GET IT! So damn annoying with that song!
Me: I'm happy for the new update…
Delta: I'd be happy if you'd shut it. You just prattle on about nothing half the time and then do annoying shit the other half!
Me: Hey, my prattling does wonders for my literary side and creative strikes. You dare to critique my method? I am your master! I own you! I own this building! As a matter of fact, fuck this building! (blows it up)
Delta: …You do know that was your donut bakery right?
Me: OH GOD WHY! I'm so sorry precious rings of glazed doughy deliciousness! Lord take me noowwww! (cries hysterically)
Delta: (sigh) Zero612 does not own Mass Effect or Halo, both games and universes belong to Bioware and Microsoft respectively. Zero612 owns the OC's and a large amount of burnt and disfigured donuts.
Me: MY BABIES!
Delta: I need a drink…
Changing Hobbies
Wow, ME3 was absolutely awesome! The fights, the progression, characters, all so cool! Too bad it eventually showed to be a big waste of time. I haven't even gotten to the end yet though but it really sucks knowing what the little effect the choices I (and Shepard) actually make here in the long run. Murphy's Law seems to work damn fine but the Butterfly Effect apparently turned to bullshit overnight…
Aw well, it's a good thing I multitasked with that secret footage. Speaking of which, oh Midshipman Joan, such a scandalous shower routine. You dirty dirty girl, go ahead and use more soap.
"Delta"
"W-What?!" I respond in a slight panic.
"We're nearly at the Weyrloc clans hospital. Are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine."
"Are you sure?"
"No, I suddenly came down with an intense case of cancer. I have 2 minutes to live."
"You're fine."
"Bleh" I drop my head and go as limp as I can, which doesn't last long as a couple seconds later a large bump in the road forces me into the bulkhead and I curl up in pain as my head rings inside my helmet from the impact. "Hijo di puta!"
"I hope we don't have to go through too much trouble this time."
"I do too but I doubt it. What do you humans call it? Uh, Murphy's Law I think, always seems to be in high effect around you." Tali said, slight mirth in her voice.
"You got that right." Shepard is less amused.
The vehicle stops at a door and weapons locker while we all get out, Tali and Shepard first before Mordin goes. Unfortunately the order for the last two was not decided unconsciously so ended up like this.
"Back the fuck up you huge-ass lizard!"
"You move tiny human! Being so near to you makes my scales itch already but this is unbearable"
"I'm not the one who shoved himself into another's bubble! Why the fuck would you try to leave at the same time as me?!"
"I am perfect Krogan! You should have paid attention when I tried to leave instead of focusing on wedging yourself between me and the wall!"
"Perfect my ass, you weren't spouting this shit when you were high as fuck yesterday! Speaking of which you stole my weed! You owe me 150 credits for that, that was high quality shit!"
"I owe you nothing!"
"I owe you an asskicking which you will get ahead of time if you don't back the fuck up!"
"Why don't you move back and make way for me!"
"I can't fucking move retard! Your fatass is crushing my spine against the doorframe!" I buckle suddenly as a hard, swift punch to the gut leaves me winded. When my shoulder moves forward a bit it's grabbed and yanked so I fall forward out of the door and land facefirst onto the Tuchankan ground. I groan then yell out in pain as a split second later Grunt lands on my back.
"There, now you're both out." Shepard says, irritation evident in her voice.
"I think he broke my spine…"
"Scans display no serious trauma to your body Delta-Specialist."
I throw my elbow back and heave to shove Grunt off me. "It still hurts like hell. And how could I not, fat ass just fell on me."
"Sufficient mass, insufficient momentum."
"Hear that, even my AI knows you're fat. And slow."
"I've rushed into battle at speeds faster than you!" Grunt said indignantly getting up.
"You're still slow." I say getting up myself. Grunt glares at me since I took off my helmet and was rolling my neck. We both yelped in pain as Grunt was grabbed by the largest formed portion of his forehead plates and I was getting yanked along by my ear by Shepard towards the door.
"Both of you shut up from now on. You will only speak when spoken to and I don't want you fighting or talking to each other at any point during this mission unless it involves tactics. Am I clear?"
"You'll make me deaf if you keep yanking so har-OW!"
"I said am I clear!?"
"Yes ma'am!" We both said as the grip intensified then let go. I clutched my ear while Grunt rubbed his brow plates, growling a little which died in his throat as Shepard turned her glare to him. At that point everyone just quietly followed her to out the door and onto a broken highway leading up to the hospital where the Weyrloc clan resided. The debris had fallen to make a wall and hole in the road that resembled a U-turn which we followed. As soon as we turned the bend we heard a skitter and then dropped back as two red Klixen immediately started breathing fire at us. I emptied the rounds of my locust into one with Tali's assistance via shotgun while Grunt, Mordin and Shepard handled the other. The two Klixen crumpled and blew up before Shepard walked by them and continued along the path.
"Two benefits of a helmet Grunt. Your head is covered and protected instead of being out in the open like an idiot's. And if you're told to shut up, you can just turn off your speakers and mic." I chuckle, loving my soundproofed helmet seals and the ability to turn off said speakers. I can talk and no one can hear it.
"Delta, what did I say about you talking!" Shepard barks out, head turning to the side slightly to look at me from the corner of her eye.
How does she know!? I have the speakers and mic off!
"We did not inform Shepard-Commander of your speech." Silver says.
I turn my speakers back on "Ok, how can you tell so easily? It's kinda creepy."
A glare is my answer. "Duly noted." I turn the speaker back off. "Man she's scary sometimes…" I look up and notice some Varren running towards us, who are swiftly being shot at by Shepard and the others while I stand still, watching the mutant alien dogs fall dead within a second.
"1.3 seconds until deceased. The targets withstood for .7 seconds and took another .6 to fully die according to scans."
"Wait, so I can shoot a guy, and you can tell me how long it takes for them to die?"
"In general we could. For in-depth analysis stronger hardware or implanted devices would be needed."
"Does that mean I have to have a radar box shoved up their butt first or?"
"Delta! Pay attention!" I look to see Shepard and the others are several meters ahead and I jog a bit to catch up. Soon as I do two Vorcha blood pack boom squad open fire on us, one using an Avenger and the other shooting with his rocket launcher. We all duck behind cover and I duck back behind the wall we passed, backtracking while listening to the fire from them. I lift off the ground some and peek over the wall, which was pretty high and see I'm behind the two. With a smirk I add extra power to the nearly noiseless flight pack and float over the wall before dropping down quickly, plasma blades extended. The rocket launcher guy just crouched down to reload and yells out quickly before a sizzling gurgle comes from his throat. His friend looks over at me in surprise, my other blade embedded in his lower back but then his head is blown off by focused fire from Shepard and Mordin. I extract both my blades and look towards the bridge they were guarding, seeing some Vorcha and Varren milling about.
"You know with this flight pack, if I had a rapid fire rpg launcher I could strafe em."
"Speaking of the flight pack, I'm surprised you're not floating around the whole place like a little bosh'tet who discovered flight." Tali says, a hand on her hip while the other holds her shotgun on her shoulder. Looks kinda sexy.
"I've considered it, filed it away, reconsidered it, took a coffee break, opened the case, solved it, considered it a third time and then did jazz hands before thinking 'no'."
"Jazz hands?"
"A very effective hand gesture in the right situations."
"Delta…" Shepard said warningly.
"You said no speaking unless spoken to."
"Here's a new order. Don't be a smartass and answer things seriously!" She turns and walks forward, picking up the rocket launcher and shoving it into my hands. "Now get in the air, and use the rest of the ammo to take out whoever you can."
"Yes ma'am…" I fly up quickly and heft the launcher onto my shoulder, spying a couple Vorcha hiding behind some debris and occasionally poking out. I fire a rocket, watching it careen towards them before impacting against the rock and fragmenting it a bit. With three rockets still left I fire a second one and start reloading the other two when I see a Vorcha pop up out of cover from a rock just below the one I'm firing at, his gun raised and pointed at me with a glare going straight into my eyes. Or at least it would if his head hadn't popped up straight into the rocket's path. I fire another rocket at his chest while he staggers from the force of the explosion. Now with my last rocket I see a mostly intact tomkah. I smirk and fly over, grab the internal combustion part the engineer back at Urdnot camp wanted and flew up while aiming at the mostly intact guts of the vehicle then fire a rocket into it.
The explosion was…much larger than I anticipated. I drop the rocket launcher and spy a Vorcha pyro and his buddy down a small side road we're going to take. I shrug and unholster my Viper, my flight pack holding steady in the air as I look through the scope. I notice Shepard and the others moving forward up the road and I take the shot, hitting the Pyro's tank which ignites as its pierced and soon blows up on him.
I float over to the side and see a group of Vorcha with some boom squad as well setting up in an open area in front of the entrance to the hospital. Shepard and the others move along the road towards them, not seeing the group as they are covered by the large wall of debris separating them.
"Shepard, you have a large group of Vorcha trying to bar your way into the hospital. They're set in behind some barricades and have a couple rocket users among them. Be careful of your fire though, there are some explosive canisters in the area."
"Got it, thanks for the info." Shepard responds, approaching the corner of the wall more cautiously as I see a couple Krogan step out as well.
"Shepard, two krogan have just joined their forces. I see a good little barricade a few feet to the right of where you'll enter from, get there quick to secure it."
"I see them. Good advice, Tali, Mordin you two with me initially, Grunt you're charging those Krogan when they get close. Time it well and they're all yours. Delta, can you set up a sniper position?"
"Can I?"
"We have run simulations and determine it is possible. You can remain in flight if at a hover using low energy, therefore allowing us to also utilize the active camouflage system of your armor and lock sections of it to augment your aim."
"Do it." I feel my gauntlets and joints get a little more rigid as I looked down the scope of my Viper. I changed targets regularly, only breaking away to watch Shepard move to her barricade under fire, her shields keeping her safe until the bullets started chipping at the debris. The two Krogan start to move around the side of the area to flank Shepard, unknowingly getting closer to the area where Grunt awaits to ambush.
"Paint a target." The two boom squad Vorcha are highlighted red in my HUD along with another Vorcha who I hear occasional commands and jeers from, assumingly the captain of this group. My rifle cracks as the rounds fly out, heading straight to the head of one of the boom squad Vorcha. He lets out a cry and growls while dropping to the floor dead, his friend roaring out before being silenced by the second shot I fired into his mouth. I take my eyes off the target for a second to notice Grunt charge out from his spot and tackle one of the Krogan before headbutting him into the ground as he drew his shotgun, blasting away while getting up and lashing out a heavily armored foot against the second one at his back. He roared before smashing the butt of his gun into the other Krogan's face. I look back into the scope and make a quick adjustment before shooting, taking out the captain of the Vorcha. The rest go into disarray and fire off angrily for a few seconds, which are all Shepard needs for her, Tali, and Mordin to finish them off easily.
Shepard does a quick sweeping look around the area before calling me down as Grunt moves by her side, smiling to himself after his successful kills. I holster my Viper and take out my PR, looking from the krogan to the door leading into the hospital. We enter the hospital and go to our left, down the stairs a bit to the first landing where there's a human corpse.
"Dead human, swell. The hell is this doing here?"
Mordin kneels down beside the body and scans it with his omnitool "Contusions and absrasions show signs of restraint. Injection sites reveal experimentation. Likely died as a result. Tragic."
"Why a human?" Cuz they're racist! "Why not use local species like Varren for experiments?" Shepard asks.
"Human genome very interesting. Unlike Salarian, Turian, or Asari it has a much higher level of diversity. More highs and lows on the genetic spectrum and as a result humans react stronger to smaller stimuli, much easier to pinpoint certain reactions to compounds when humans are used."
See? Diversity is something to be proud of. We are the best test monkeys in the galaxy because of it.
"Who was this guy? Any ID on him?"
"Don't know. Can't say. We must push further and stop this." Mordin says with a nod.
Shepard nods as well and continues down the stairs, stepping to the side to pick up some refined iridium. I start walking down the hallway and find a door, opening it before the others catch up to arrive in a foyer looking area with a large gas tank under a platform. Shepard and the others step up beside me just as a Krogan and two guards of his step out onto the platform from the door behind it.
"I am the speaker of Clan Weyrloc and we demand that you leave immediately."
"We're not leaving until we get back Maelon safely."
"BAH! The Salarian is of too much importance to us! His work will remove our clan the curse of the genophage and allow us to make a glorious revival! Soon, our children and numbers will tower above those of our rival clans and we will crush them! When we do, Tuchanka will ours and clan Weyrloc will exact revenge upon the Turians and the Salarians! We will destroy the Turians unlike any have done before! We will feast on the eggs of the Salarian broods as a delicacy to our people! We will take over the Asari's hold on the Citadel and sit in-
I turn to Shepard and heft my PR "May I? please?"
"Fine."
With a smile I lift my Plasma Repeater and hold down the trigger, firing bolt after bolt of superheated plasma at the speaker who yells in pain with each impact. I keep firing, watching the plasma melt through his chest armor and into his torso before trailing the shots upward to focus more on his face, melting the bones and skin of his head until it starts to slag and sink in while he staggers back and falls on his back dead.
With a childish voice I say, while venting the heat from the shots from my weapon, "Shut the fuck up."
The other two guards stare in horror and surprise at their fallen leader before turning to us for a fight only to be surprised again by me flying straight into them with my arms outstretched, fingers curved in a hook with two blue glowing orbs in each of them. "HUGS OF DEATH!" The guards yell out as I hug them, simultaneously stabbing my armored fingers into their back humps, depositing the orbs which flash blue before flying away as they explode, pushing them forward from the force to die facedown. At this point Vorcha and some other Krogan come out of the door and look in shock between their 3 dead leaders and the armored floating boy before being startled as Shepard and Grunts assault fire, and Tali and Mordin's SMG rounds start tearing into their shields from the side. The Vorcha are taken down easily but the remaining 2 Krogan put up a bit of a tougher fight. I landed beside Shepard, shooting my pistol into the browplate of one Krogan who drops dead after the seventh shot finally punches through the armor and gets a lucky shot on its brain.
"Alright that's all of em. Tali, would you mind getting that iridium for me?"
"Sure Shepard."
"Mordin, Grunt, check their bodies for medi-gel and clips."
"Got it Battlemaster"
"Delta-"
"Wow, for such large brains these guys are pretty frickin retarded." I say, looking at an anatomy diagram of a Krogan Silver downloaded from a terminal in the hospital. The brain of a Krogan seems to actually be large enough that some is stored in the hump. Its more like a second brain too really, a minor part that can provide emergency control if the first is damaged by a minor concussion or something. Oddly enough I'm not so surprised because practically everything in a Krogan has a backup. "Congratulations Grunt, you are part of a species with the most paranoid bodies."
Cue the Shepard head smack.
"Delta, give me your weapons and scout ahead and keep scouting until you find enemies."
"I'm assuming you want me to dispose of them?"
"Negative, you are to distract and delay until we get there to provide assistance. Get going."
I hand over my weapons with a frown. "You just want to know I'm getting shot at…"
"No, of course not." Well, I pissed her off. "Get going."
"Yes ma'am." I sigh and walk ahead of the group, going past terminals with interesting upgrades and crates of resources that could be useful, tagging each for Shepard to see on her HUD. It's all uneventful until I find a little room with a single Krogan dressed in hospital scrubs. We stare at each other, me with my visor up and him with a depressed emo look on his lizard face.
"…"
"…"
"You know, some lotion would do wonders for that ashy complexion." He only blinks and stares up at me before shaking his head with a grunt and looking back to the floor.
"It was a joke you're supposed to laugh."
"What is there to laugh about? I failed my clan and am too weak to help them now…"
"What do you mean?"
"I was an Urdnot scout. I was supposed to scout the Weyrloc clans home and return undetected but because of my weakness I was caught! I thought they would kill me but then I found out a way to help my clan still."
"How?"
"Here they inject me with needles and give me drugs. They say it'll help cure the genophage. Then because of my help they'll give the cure to Urdnot, and we can be cured of it as well!"
"Well that's bull."
"W-what?"
"They wouldn't give the genophage cure to Urdnot. Why do that instead of hold it to themselves so they can grow 10 times as fast and eventually just destroy Urdnot? They're rival clans after all aren't they?"
"Well…yeah, but they promised!"
"Tell me buddy, what's to stop you from breaking a promise you might've made to someone? Don't you owe a guy credits or something, or a drink or whatever? And how many times have you come up straight and gave it to them nstead of saving it to use on yourself? Exactly. They won't do it. The best way to help your clan now would be to go back and tell them then continue your duties as a scout."
"Right…You're right, I'll do that then! Fuck Weyrloc, the lying honorless bastards!"
"Woah, hold up there. You, walking across Tuchanka's surface with nothing but the clothes on your back, your hump and whichever gun you manage to get? Yeah, I don't think so.
"What?!"
"Before I came here you were depressed and whiny like a Quarian with a tummyache. You don't have what it takes to be badass enough to get home by yourself, and I'm willing to bet money on it."
The scout gets to his feet with an angry snarl and points a finger into my visor "Never! Bet on a Krogan's weakness! I will make you lose that bet!"
"Pfft, you've just gone from whiny Quarian to tough guy, not badass."
He shoves me away and steps out of the room, going to a nearby room and rifling around. He finds his scout armor and puts it on as quick as he can before steping back over and shoving me again for good measure as he heads to the Hospital entrance.
"Wait!" He turns around to see me handing over what looks like a vey large Bowie knife I found in a locker. "It's dangerous to go alone. Take this." He looks at it then me before taking the pistol and moving on. I turn around and go forward, moving through one hallway and another before taking a sudden turn as something grabs my interest.
Back with Shepard
"Well, at least he found some useful things." Shepard says while downloading the information packet for the upgrade Delta tagged.
Tali walks behind her, putting a new clip in her shotgun "Did you expect him not to actually do anything? For all the times he pisses us off he seems to be equally as efficient and helpful. Makes it hard to completely want him gone."
"You've got that right…" Shepard sighs in acknowledgement. She looks up to see a Krogan coming but pauses at the unusual sight of a Krogan-Bowie knife on his hip, then notices the colors of the Urdnot clan. "Hey, are you the Urdnot scout?"
The Scout looks at them before nodding noticing the other Krogan with the oddly diverse group. "Yes. I didn't know there'd be another human here."
"Another?"
"Yes, the first one, taller, had black and red armor unlike any I've ever seen before. He talked to me, motivated me to get back to Urdnot instead of whining like a Quarian with a tummyache. It angers me how much he was right…"
"Right?"
"About the tummyche. I've actually heard a Quarian whine while they had a tummyache and when I look back on what I've been doing it's so similar. It makes me angry just thinking about it!" He shakes his head and stalks off, leaving the group behind.
"So he's found the scout we were looking for…" Shepard starts.
" 'A quarian with a tummyache'? That little bosh'tet…"
Shepard sighs "Let's go find him. I'm actually more worried that he hasn't found anything regarding combat…"
"That just means more for us Battlemaster." Grunt says with some glee.
"That's what I'm afraid of." Shepard hurries her pace a little and they follow the hallways of the Hospital until they come to a large open air stairway that seems to lie in the center of the facility. There are several floors, each with doors leading to different parts and stairs going down to each floor, some covered in rubble, others broken and pockmarked with fallen debris. The first thing Shepard notices in all of this, are the yappings of hostile Varren and the yells of angry Weyrloc Krogan. Oddly enough they seem to be yelling at something that's not Shepard. Then again, that's not very odd now is it?
"BACK! BACK FILTHY MONGRELS AND MASTERS! I HAVE CLAIMED THIS FOR MY OWN!"
"Stupid human that's our bottled water! Return it immediately!"
"NEVER! IT IS HOT AS BALLS OUT HERE AND I NEED IT!" Shepard just facepalms as she watches Delta hold a pack of water bottles under one arm while constantly chucking random objects at the Krogan and Varren. One Varren yells out and falls dead from an expertly placed scalpel that pierced deep in its neck between two vertebrae. One got several chunks of rock to the face then received an oddly placed steel toed boot. The Krogans were all very mad now because their weapons had gotten crushed by rocks and metal chunks tossed by the augmented childish soldier who would only pause to restock on ammo and guzzle down a bottle or two.
Back with Delta
I am going to be taking such a long break after this. Oh sweet, sweet, arrowhead water. What the hell are you doing on Tuchanka I will not know or even care. Just that you are sweet, here, and cold for my consumption. "FUCK OFF!" Oh crap, I don't think I have any more rocks to throw… They're still not close enough for my blades either. Well, maybe if I goad them enough they'll charge in but hopefully not all at once.
"HEY KROGANS! YOUR FATHERS WERE WHINY LITTLE BITCHES THAT MOANED ABOUT BULLET WOUNDS LIKE A QUARIAN DOES ABOUT A GERM!" Hah that ought to piss em off eno-OMG THEY'RE ALL CHARGING. I grab my pack of water and scramble back as the Krogans all charged at me before dropping to the ground under combined gunfire from Shepard, Mordin, Tali, and Grunt who are currently crossing a bridge to get where I am. Huh, good timing. With all but two Krogans down but heavily injured I ignite my plasma blades and jam them into their skulls before twisting and yanking them out, making the two drop to the floor finally dead.
"Well, that was convenient." I smile then am smacked on the back of my head with the butt of a shotgun. It hurts a lot more with my helmet off…
"You little bosh'tet, why do you keep making insults like that?"
"Ow! That's my bare head you could give me a concussion if you keep doing that-HEY HEY!" I crouch and try to move away as Tali raises her shotgun for another strike while I replace my helmet quickly and hoist the water pack on my back a little higher.
Shepard chuckles "So what were you saying earlier Tali?" Tali just turns to her with a glare but Shepard shakes it off with another chuckle while moving forward. "Let's get Maelon." Mordin is quick to agree while moving with her. I fall into step beside Tali since Grunt moves ahead as pointman.
"You gotta admit, it's a very effective analogy for pissing off Krogans." Tali's glare turns to me. "Yeah yeah, you have a shotgun, I know."
We go to another open-air atrium stairway place soon and see even more Krogan and Varren than before. At this point Shepard has given me back my weapons and everyone has taken a water bottle except Tali. So I have to restock later... Anyway, I take out my Viper and crouch down, creeping out with my active camoflauge on to remain out of sight while checking out the area. I note several Krogan on the same level as us with a few Vorcha standing guard. Ignoring the Vorcha as targets I look down and see the Weyrloc clans own chief, the IFF confirming him as Chief Guld, patrolling the lowest level and bridge, likely by the door that leads to Maelon. Well then, biotic barriers and a krogans health. This wont be tough at all if I sneak through ri-
"Fuck, my goddamn knee! OH this hurts like a motherfucker!" I yell out, unstealthing and clutching my knee that a krogan just kicked instead of the pillar behind it. "Are you retarded, why are you kicking random pillars!?"
The Krogan blinks in surprise before realizing I'm the enemy just as I do the same. He rounds his shotgun on me but my arms already up, plasma blade out and slicing his gun in half before jamming the point straight into his browplates. A loud sizzle is heard as the plasma cuts and melts through the bone while I push up with my other foot and climb up the Krogan's leg to put more force behind the blade which is driven into his brain. During this the Krogan scrabbled at me and started to charge to the pillar but died before enough force could be put into his legs to really harm me. And then served as a pleasant meat shield for his buddies who opened fire on me.
"Open Fire" yells Shepard, popping out of cover with Tali, Grunt and Mordin to shoot into the group, mowing them down easily as fire was first concentrated on the krogans then the Vorcha. Some Varren run from below along with the lower level reinforcements and the battlemaster. A few of them are picked off from Shepard's higher vantage point but they're safe when they reach the stairs so everyone digs in.
"Delta, now's the time to get out"
"Alright, gimme a second I just found something really cool." I dash out and sit next to Shepard with something coarse, rough, and slightly damp in my hand.
"It's a rock."
"Meow"
"Did that rock just 'meow'?!" Shepard exclaims. The rock trembles as two eye stalks poke out from the center.
"Yeah! It's a baby brown klixen! I just found it in the corner! I named him Gary."
"…Do I even want to ask why?"
"It'd be best for all if you didn't. Silver has gotten quite the information on him in short notice. They're a rare sub-species of Klixen at this time, mainly because they are more sedentary and less likely to attack though they do have the same methods of hunting and killing."
"Delta, lets not deal with your odd hobby of picking up EVERY animal we come across now, especially when there are Krogan SHOOTING AT US." On cue the Krogans open fire just as soon as they get off the stairs.
"Oh no! Gary, save us!" I toss Gary over at the Krogans and duck behind cover with Shepard.
With Gary
Weightless. The shell doesn't hurt anymore and the odd warmth is gone, replaced by unsteady, ungrippable air. 6 little segmented legs skitter through the air before suddenly finding purchase and the snail stops immediately, legs latched onto this new purchase. The eye stalks go out slowly to find itself staring at the back of a Krogan's head, legs attached and digging tightly into its hump. Several sounds come from nearby, seeming to be confused as grunts are heard before more shots are fired. This all goes far over the creatures head as the eye stalks look up slightly to see the blue orb that glows and slowly sizzles while attached to the surface of its shell.
"meow" BOOOM!
Back to Delta
Yells of pain, surprise, and anger are heard as two krogans drop dead; heads nearly obliterated and bodies crumpling as Delta comes up and opens fire on one injured Krogan who dies shortly after, burns covering the side and back of his hump. The other team looks at the disarray and almost simultaneously demand
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"
"Um, I think Gary pooted."I say. Everyone stares at me before a rock suddenly crashes down on my head. "OW" Upon closer inspection though, "GARY! You're alive!"
"Meow!" "And you're stuck to my head…. Crap." Well, at least he's not impeding my sight. On this note, headshots for everyone! I drop back and pull out my Viper, sniping the head of Battlemaster Guld before he's charged by Grunt. Guld grunts as his barriers drop some while Shepard, Tali and Mordin attack the other Krogan. Grunt and Guld shoot at each other while I snipe at whatever part of Guld's not covered by Grunt. After 3 shots I just sigh and holster the viper while drawing my Plasma repeater and closing some of the distance to avoid raining fiery bolts of liquid pain on Grunt. A bit. Just as I lift my gun up I see Grunt raised into the air biotically and swear under my breath before diving for the side. Sadly I wasn't fast enough since Grunt's large body crashed into my side and the two of us were slammed into the ground. Grunt groans and I try to judge whether my spine's been broken.
"2 upper ribs cracked."
"Thank you Silver…" I yelp as I feel the pain in my left side and a sting after before a soothing gel is applied. "And FUCK you Guld!" Grunt manages to get off me quickly and I crouch up, shooting at Guld with my plasma repeater, grunting and wincing as my ribs protest with each shake of the guns recoil coursing through my body. Grunt charges, the stream of the projectile equivalent of blue magma to his side and stopping before he slams shoulder-first into Guld, knocking him against the wall. I watch the two duke it out for a while, guns ignore in favor of bellowing, flying spittle and meaty fists slamming into faces, arms, knees, legs, humps, foreheads, gu-OUCH! Right in the quad!
Guld's knee comes down the same time as his head, knocking the tightlipped Grunt down to the ground. I scowl and activate my blades, extending them further and longer by about a foot as Silver reroutes some power to the magnetic field generator. With my blades more like short swords than small daggers I charge forward and jump up before slicing down towards Guld. He backs up but his barrier catches the edge of one blade with sizzles and sparks. Seems his biotics make the field unstable… this ought to be interesting.
I had some fun here.
Guld tries to duck and weave away from my strikes. Each time they get near his body the field destabilizes and plasma sparks and flies off randomly, making sweet looking splashes of sizzling blue plasma splatter on the walls and floors around us. With one knee to the gut and a stab to the arm the puncture shows his barrier's down. At this I smirk, the magnetic field stabilized once more as his biotics fade out.
"uh oh" I say before pulling the blade out and slicing into the shoulder quickly. As I do Guld yells out and charges me, successfully impaling himself on my left blade as I shorten my right one then jam it into his hump. I cut a neat little niche then grab a plasma grenade and embed it into it. I fall back, rolling backwards along the floor before lifting my left arm straight and pointing the fist at Guld's hump. With a thought, the field reshapes into a long needle like blade that fills with plasma quickly, making it look like it's extending from my body at amazing speed into the node of the grenade and detonating it immediately. I cover my helmet visor with my arm as the explosion goes off, covering me in small bursts of drying blood and the smell of burnt scales. "Well, that was nastier than I expected…"
Shepard helps Grunt up while Tali does the same for me. Mordin is meanwhile heading down a hallway hopefully leading to the room where our reason for this whole mission lies. I pat my head as I stand up, tapping gary's shell. "We'll find out more about you later on."
Weyrloc Laboratory
"Maelon. Alive. Unharmed." Mordin says in surprise, walking towards a Salarian standing in front of a wide and large holographic display of charts, biological readings, and anatomical displays; assumingly from the subjects contained in the three bio-tubes situated behind the holographic screen. "No signs of restraint, No evidence of torture. Don't understand."
A mere glance over the shoulder is given before he retorts. "For such a smart man, Professor, you always had trouble seeing evidence that disagreed with your preconceptions." He turns around, looking straight at Mordin as he speaks. "How long will it take you to admit I'm here because I wish to be here?"
"The Blood pack never kidnapped him. He went to them. He's working on a cure voluntarily." Shepard says, tone turning darker as she speaks. Tali, Grunt and I stand behind Shepard watching the three. I look at my shoulder and realize Gary crawled there and is swiveling his eye stalks in accordance to who's speaking. He looks at me and I look back before we both blink at each other and go back to following the conversation. Seems they're on something about ethics now.
"We committed cultural genocide! Nothing I do will ever be justified! The experiments I do are monstrous, because I was taught to be a monster!" Maelon nearly yells out with guilt and anger evident.
Shepard turns to Mordin with a critical eye "Mordin, did you ever perform experiments like this?"
"No. Never taught you this Maelon." Mordin replies, eyes squinted in insult at the accusation and idea.
"We're shutting your lab down Maelon." Shepard says with authority.
"Shutting down more than that" Adds Mordin.
Maelon steps back, pulling out a carnifex and waving it between everyone, "You can't face the truth can you? Can't admit that your brilliant mind led you to commit an atrocity!" Mordin steps up as Maelon aims at Grunt then punches him in the face before the gun is moved back to him. Maelon stumbles back into one of the tubes behind the holographic interface, reeling in pain and dropping his gun which is promptly picked up by Mordin and held at his face.
"Unacceptable experiments. Unacceptable goals. Won't change. No choice. Have to kill you." Mordin says with a little regret as he lifts the muzzle of the gun into alignment with Maelon's forehead.
"Wait. You don't need to do this Mordin. You're not a murderer." Shepard says, hand raised as she appeals to him.
Maelon nods and adds a weak little smile.
Mordin's eyes open as if waking from a dream and he lets out a small gasp. "No! No, not a murderer…" he backs away with a small shake of his head "Thank you, Shepard."
Maelon steps forward, wiping his eyes as they leak a little. I leave before the smell gets too strong from something else that leaked. Ugh, nasty. I can still smell the burnt Krogan too. I pick up Gary in one hand and hold him as I inspect him. His eye stalks pop out and stare at me.
"So…how did you survive the explosion of my plasma grenade?"
"meow."
"Scans suggest the creature is incapable of speech similar to yours, Delta-Specialist."
"Well, do you have an answer for that then?"
"When Klixen feel they are in a state of distress or danger they emit a large amount of flammable gases from their orifices. Their teeth have a phosphoric coating which can cause sparks to be made if rubbed together, and combined with the spewed gases creates a flamethrower effect. We reason that this creature did the same, emitting a large amount of self-produced flammable gases from its body but currently lacks the phosphorous teeth for the flamethrower effect. As such, it spewed the gases then assumed a defensive position so its shell protected it from the blast while the gases made it more powerful."
"Huh… and I thought you were just a pretty face." I rub the top of Gary's shell between its eye openings to which it lets out a low hum and vibrates in my hand. "He likes me! I'm so keeping you!" Maelon walks out of the room and doesn't even glance at me as he continues on, glancing around himself in fear. "Guess they told him other Krogans would kill on sight. Oh well, doesn't matter to you or me, now does it little guy? I can't wait to get back on the ship things'll be so much fun.