MASS MISCALCULATION
Episode 12- Severance
Both the virtual man and the assassin stood still for what seemed like an eternity. Ouroboros was the first to speak up. "Where… where did you get that gun?"
"Alright look I know this looks bad…" Aaron tried to explain, but Ouro held a hand up.
"It was you… you were the one who hurt my friend…" Ouro's helmeted head looked at Aaron… then he immediately cloaked.
"Hah, jokes on you, I can track cloaks!" Aaron said triumphantly as he punched the cloaked form of Ouro… only for the cloaked form to fizzle out of existence. "Damn, I didn't even know you could cloak decoys…" Aaron muttered. The real Ouro decloaked behind him, his two Cerberus smg's pointed at him. Aaron whipped around and formed his out smg and pointed his sword like a gun at him. "…Oh for the love of…" Aaron muttered, holding the sword normally.
"You were the ones at the apartment! The mercenary's!" Ouro shouted.
"True, we had good reason! We were just trying to save Randall!" Aaron explained.
"More like hurt him! They told me what was going on!"
"Wait wait wait wait, hold on a minute, what did they say?" Aaron lowered his smg and tilted his head in curiosity.
"They told me the experiments he volunteered for where hurting his mind, killing him, and when he escaped they told me we were just going to bring him back so they could make him better…"
Aaron sighed. "So… he's one of those, isn't he?"
"Ouro, they lied to you, Cerberus is bad. Like, really bad"
"What are you saying?"
"Randall ran from Cerberus because they betrayed him. They took a friend of his, Inali, they tortured her with experiments, turned her into… into something not human"
"No… no, they told me they volunteered…"
"Cerberus does inhumane experiments, Ouro, they're racist against aliens and they do really bad experiments on everything, humans included! They'll do anything to get they're goal!"
"Your lying!" Ouro shot his smg's, a few round hitting Aaron as he flipped behind Ouro. The assassin holstered his guns as he did a leg sweep, sending Aaron to the ground. Grabbing his throat, Ouro sent Aaron into the wall, then attempted to punch him but Aaron blocked it, slamming the assassin into the wall.
"Dude I'm stronger than a krogan, you can't beat me in a fight!" Ouro ignored Aaron's words as he kicked him away. His omni-tool activated, turning into a bow and firing at Aaron, two bolts embedding themselves into his shoulders and two in his knees, pinning him to the wall.
"What the hell, arrows!? Really!?" Aaron attempted to get out of the arrows, but to no avail. Ouro wordlessly stepped up to Aaron, turning his omni-tool into a two-pronged weapon, electricity arcing between it. "Oh come on, what are you going to do with- agh!" Aaron grunted in pain as Ouroboros jabbed the prongs in his stomach, electrocuting him. "Damn, Boss better not be having a good time right now…" Aaron was able to barely think as he was continuously electrocuted.
Meanwhile at Donovan Hock's party
Well, for Boss this was one of the parties he didn't enjoy. Hell, way back when he broke into the penthouse party and was killing Syndicate left and right to take over the building he considered that fun. Even when Pierce and Zimos threw that party and the 'entertainment' turned out to be assassins and eventually a few helicopters he had fun blowing that up. But literally everyone here was just… wrong. Kasumi was right when she said everyone here were scumbags. Especially that guy Hock. He reminded him too much of Philippe. At least he didn't have to get too close to people, he had Kinzie put an addition into the holographic projector in his armor to project a normal Boss in a tux. Sure people kept staring at his hair, but he didn't mind. In fact, he kept wondering why everyone in this dimension had short hair. Sure, humans were probably the only one's with hair but all humans for some reason had short hair. That unnerved Boss even more. He was glad when they finally got to the vault. Then he wasn't glad. "So if we need his voice why didn't you get it when we met him outside!?" Boss asked/yelled.
"Well I didn't know we'd actually need voice recognition! What do you take me for, a psychic?" the thief countered.
"No, but you're a thief! Shouldn't you prepare for this kind of shit?"
"Look, it's not the end of the world, we just need to get a sample of his voice. which requires talking to him"
"-groan- I'm gonna kill that French fuck when this is over…"
"Huh?"
"Nothing, just… I used to know I guy. Hated him, then crushed him with a giant metal ball"
"Ouch"
"Yeah, well he deserved more. Okay, let's go talk to him. Swear I'll kill him…" Boss muttered as Kasumi cloaked and Boss walked off. It wasn't really hard to find Hock, he was pretty much the center of attention.
"One more thing" a invisible Kasumi whispered.
"What?" a irritated Boss asked.
"Would it be too much to make him give a speech?"
"Yes" Boss answered quickly.
"Look, I'm gonna need as much voice material as I can get if I'm gonna crack the voice recognition part of the vault, okay?"
"-Groan- alright, but this thing better be worth it girl…"
"Fine, if you don't wanna hear a speech just keep him talking long enough for me to get enough material" "Alright!" Boss angrily growled as he made his way to Hock. "Yo, Hock!" Boss waved.
"Did you just say what I think you just said?" the arms dealer asked as he turned around, a wine glass with wine in it.
"Ugh, it's gonna be one of those shakedowns, huh?" Boss thought before correcting himself. "Sorry Donovan, it's just… was hanging with a friend before this"
"I see. well try not to have another slipup again, this party is one of equity, you know"
"Yeah, fancy shit and all that, I get it"
"You, shall treat me with respect while in my home, Solomon" Boss mentally sighed at the fake name Kasumi had given him.
"Alright, alright, sorry. Look, I just wanted to talk… business"
"Business? Why would I want to affiliate myself with one such as yourself?" Hock asked, visibly growing more and more angry.
"Well alright fine, is you don't want to do business with my employer Aaron…" Boss lied with a smirk as he turned around. Donovan's eyes widened as he quickly stepped in front of Boss. "Aaron, you say?" he asked.
"Oh yeah, he's planning something big and need's guns, said you could be a guy to get him guns, even said he was willing to negotiate any price he wanted. But, if you don't want to…"
"And how do I know your employer will not betray me? He is not exactly open to men such as myself"
"Well usually he only goes after people that cross him the wrong way, and your one of the few who haven't done that. So, if you are interested…"
"Well of course if it means I will make a large profit, when can we make a appointment to discuss business?"
"Oh don't worry about that, after the party I'll tell him your in and he'll send someone else to set the meet up"
"Excellent! In celebration of this stupendous opportunity, would you like some wine?"
"I'm good dawg" Boss nervously walked off as Donovan mingled with the rest of his guests. the weapon dealer didn't exactly trust the man, he seemed to… green in his opinion, too unprofessional. Then again, from what he had heard of Aaron he was unprofessional as well but he still got the job done, so it would make sense that he would affiliate himself with types such as this. He shrugged and got back to his guests as the head of the Saints walked behind a pillar, finding Kasumi there with her omni-tool out. "I swear if that wasn't enough voice I'll rip his voice box out, that should give you enough"
"Actually it wouldn't since then he couldn't talk. Also, yes, I was able to scrape enough together, happy?"
"Yeah I'll be happy once I get to pop that guy, his voice, it's just… ugh, it's just so cliché. Anyway, what now?"
"Now we need to get a sample of his DNA"
"You tell me this now, I could have offered to take his glass when he was finished, his spit wouldn't have been enough!?"
"It would have, but it would have been too suspicious. We need… to find a way into his apartment"
"Yeah, great idea, you have any ideas on doing that?"
"Well, we could sneak in…"
"Nah, too boring"
"Or we could break in?"
"Now that's not boring, what do you think? I bash through the door, glide through the window?"
"No… well, actually…"
"C'mon, give me the deets…"
"We'll need to go to that balcony over there and drop down…" Kasumi explained, pointing to the balcony outside.
"The one with the three guards under it?" Boss questioned.
"Yeah, we drop down, kill them, then break into the apartment"
"Alright, golden, let's go" Kasumi nodded as the two went to said balcony, dropping down. Because of the unseen armor Boss was wearing it made a solid thunk as he landed, earning the attention of the guards.
"Pop pop, bitches" Boss said as he reached into his body. Well, at least that was what the guards saw, Boss was really just reaching past his holographic projection and un-holstering his two alien pistols that were magnetically attached to his hip. When going to the party, Kasumi wanted to but his guns in some statue, but Boss refused, not trusting statues, and assuring her that they wouldn't pick up these guns. She nodded, and when they arrived it had worked. Apparently the scanners couldn't pick up guns out of this world.
The guards raised their rifles, but Boss retaliated by whipping the two pistols out, shooting both of them at the same time, a magnum-sized laser nailing two of the guards. Boss fired two lasers on the last one, the force causing him to be pushed near the railing and fall off the building, screaming as he fell down.
"Huh, whaddya know, those guns really do work" Kasumi noted as she walked past Boss.
"What, just because they look slightly ridiculous doesn't mean they're bad" Boss hotly claimed.
"Just sayin'" the thief shrugged and walked over to an open panel. "Think you can shoot that out?" she asked as she point to a window under it.
"Can do better than that" Boss said as he jumped through the panel and window, shattering it as he made it into the apartment.
"I said 'shoot', not 'jump'" Kasumi scolded as she jumped through the hole in the window.
"Eh, still works" Boss said as he shrugged, then said, "Alright we need DNA, huh? Hang on, let me check this couch" he walked over to the couch and flashed his own purple omni-tool that Kinzie had given him, to no avail.
"Wow, I found one measly credit in here. Donovan, you cheap ass… let me try this one" Boss walked over to the alarm clock next to the bed.
"I don't really think that's a good idea…" Kasumi warned.
"Well I'm not checking the bed, I could get a disease. Hey look, DNA!" Boss shouted triumphantly… right before the alarm clock went off, alerting the guard.
"Whoops. Well, at least Aaron is having a better time than me, resting comfortably on the Normandy…"
Normandy- Aaron's room
Having enough of being electrocuted, Aaron activated his electric buffer, shorting out the arrows and Ouro's omni-tool. Now free, Aaron kicked Ouro away, then brought up his lazor razor and charged at him, swinging it down only for it to be blocked by a omni-blade procured by Ouro.
"Your making a big mistake" Aaron growled as they struggled to bring each-others blades down, the electric buffer wearing off.
"Am I? You're the one sabotaging Cerberus, they're only trying to help people" Ouro countered.
"They're lying to you!"
"I don't believe you" the assassin brought up another omni-tool on the other arm, a omni-blade coming out of that one as well and clashing with the blue sword.
"Believe what you want, you still can't beat me"
"That remains to be seen" To Aaron's surprise Ouroboros was winning the struggle as his blade was pushed back. Having enough of this dark eezo spread along his body and pushed Ouro's blades back, knocking him to the floor and his helmet off. As he looked up at Aaron, the space pirate was surprised. He actually was sixteen by the look of it, surgical scars not unlike the patterns found on circuit boards on his forehead, cheeks, and lower jaw and chin, them along with eyes glowing a unnatural green, Aaron also noticing the short and spikey black hair, his face being triangular.
"What the hell Cerberus… he's just a kid…" muttered Aaron.
"So what? You are too!" Ouro shouted as he threw several tech grenades, the explosion tossing Aaron to the side of the room. Forming a omni-hammer, he ran up to Aaron and kept slamming him with it, but then saw he was being lifted up by Aaron's telekinesis, then being electrocuted by it.
"Look I'm trying to help you kid! And by the way, I ain't this young! I'm just a middle-aged dude in the body of a sixteen-year-old"
"Really? Then how old are you really?" Ouro asked sarcastically as he used overload on Aaron, the telekinesis wearing off. "The hell…?" Aaron wondered as he saw Ouro land on the floor on his feet, a dozen omni-knives in his hands, sparking with electricity. "I'll ask again, how old?" the annoyed assassin asked as he threw the knives.
"Geez, thirty-one!" Aaron yelped as he blocked the knives with his sword, Ouroboros running up with omni-blades at the ready. As the two fought with their weapons, Aaron was wondering why no-one was hearing this. At that thought the door opened.
"Aaron. Heard a noise, sounded like fighting, what's going on?" Grunt asked as he poked his massive head into the room. Ouro ran up to him and kicked him in the face, sending him into a wall outside. As the pure krogan moaned in pain the door closed and Ouro locked it. He turned around… only for Aaron's lazor razor to be pointed at his throat.
"So we keep doing this, or we can talk this out" Aaron was growing more and more pissed as this fight continued. Not only was this kid on par with him in a confined space, but if this fight continued one of his things could break. He'd rather not have that.
"Fine… what is it you want to tell me?" the assassin begrudgingly asked.
Still meanwhile at the party
Boss walked up to the last Eclipse merc in the apartment, shooting him in the head as he tried to crawl away. "So that's the last of them, what now?"
Kasumi shrugged. "Guess we just need to disable the power coils, after that we head in" Boss nodded as the left the apartment. Finding the coils was fairly simple, all they had to do was let Kasumi find the power coils and deactivate them. After that was done, the entered the vault. Once they were inside, Kasumi started to disable security, telling Boss to admire the thing in the vault. "I'm busy, go look at stuff. But get the graybox first." were her exact words.
Boss shrugged and snatched the graybox, then looked at the statues. The first thing he asked was, "Why is the head of the statue of Joe Margarita here? And why is Joe a girl?"
"What?" Kasumi asked in confusion.
"Nothin'"
"Okay… well, I'm done, give me the graybox" Boss complied and gave it to her. As she started cracking it, Boss heard a buzzing. He looked to the center of the room and saw the giant holographic head of Hock appear. Before he could speak, Boss stepped in front of him.
"Look, I'm tired of your accent, tired of this lame-ass party, and in general just tired of giant holograms. So, why don't you just leave us alone so Kasumi can get what's her's, ya french fuck?"
"I am Dutch!" Holo-Hock yelled.
"Well then if I can steal and modify a quote from my friend Johnny Gat, 'the make yourself a fuckin' meatball. We're done here'" Boss declared, spotting the emitter the hologram was coming from and shooting it.
"Meatball? Really?" the kleptomaniac asked with a smirk.
"I don't know Dutch stuff, okay!?" before the thief could respond the vault door opened, security mercs swarming in along with Chief Roe, the head of the security team. "Alright, well that complicates things" activating fire buffer, Boss stomped his foot down, a fire-imbued shockwave blowing and incinerating the mercs away, save for Roe who was blown into the wall. Before she could get up, Boss sprinted up to her, grabbing her throat and lifting her up, the holographic projection shutting off and revealing the power armor.
"You…?" the chief asked upon seeing the fleur before Boss snapped her neck.
"Nah, but he is a friend" leaving the vault, the two entered a room, crawling with even more mercs… and a YMIR mech!
"Oh hell yeah!" Boss cheered.
"How is this a 'hell yeah' moment!?" Kasumi yelled as she took cover.
"Because I can do this!" Boss said triumphantly as he threw a hack-blast, the mech now under the Boss's control and killing the other mercs.
"Wow. You can do that?" Kasumi asked.
"Eh, it's a gift" the thief and the gangster continued on, coming to a locked room and a flight of stair. Running up them -much to Boss's distaste- the two reached a hallway… with eight deactivated mechs.
"Hey, Kasumi… think you can turn these things on?"
"Your insane" she deadpanned.
"Nah, Aaron's insane, I'm just a accomplice" Kasumi sighed as she brought up her omni-tool, turning the mechs on. the first thing they did once they got up was aim their guns at him. Then, after a quick hack-blast, giving Boss control. "Alright, now we just let these lovely thing mop up the rest of the mercs and then boom, we get out"
"Well I don't see any flaw in that plan" the thief said sarcastically.
Meanwhile in the next room, the mercs were lining up as they waited for the two intruders to arrive.
"Man, this is bull, how did two intruders manage to get in here anyways?" one asked.
"I dunno man, all I know is this is way too many mercs for two thieves, we're not fighting Shepard" another said.
"I hear one's Aaron" a third said.
"Oh come on, that's boloney, there's no way that things here" the first said.
"You sure? I lost contact with the team in the last room, said one of 'em had superpowers" the second pointed out.
"Hey I was on that frequency too, they said he was in power armor. The same armor that the two people who wounded the council had" the first corrected.
"Which means he has super powers"
"Most likely not as good as that space pirate's is"
"Still, before we lost contact he said there was a fleur on the armor"
"…Your telling me this now?" before anyone could respond, there was a bang by the door they were guarding.
"…Um… what was that?" a fourth merc asked.
"Maybe one of the mechs fell off a rack?" the third suggested.
"No way, not with those new magnetic clamps" the fourth pointed out before the door was blown apart… and eight YMIR mechs stomping through.
"Oh shit! RUN!" the first merc screamed as he turned around and ran, only to be shredded apart by the miniguns of the mechs, the other mercs befalling the same faith. Behind the mechs came walking in Boss and Kasumi, Boss gesturing to the carnage and saying, "Ah, if only Aaron was here, he could have played that iron man song on the dubstep gun. Still, what I'd tell ya? We just let these bad boys go through and clip these dudes and then we're home free!"
"There's still Hock…" Kasumi said grimly.
"Eh, what's he gonna do, try to short my suit out with wine?" Boss asked skeptically.
"Wait… can he actually do that?"
"No… mayb- I don't know man, maybe!" Boss yelled as he threw his arms up. Getting through the resst of the complex was easy, with the YMIR mechs clearing a path for the duo, and Boss even hacking a few more along the way. With the mechs, everything was obliterated, even a few tanks along the way. Sadly, the hack wore off and the mechs exploded as they made their way to the landing platform.
"Well, destruction was fun while it lasted" Boss lamented.
"We're not out of this yet. Look!" Kasumi shouted, pointing at a incoming dropship. Boss squinted and saw Donovan in the cockpit.
"Well that's just perfect" Boss grumbled.
"Hey, maybe the guns shoot wine?" Kasumi shrugged as the dropship closed in and started firing bullets at them.
"Not wine, not wine!" Boss yelled as he and the thief got into cover. To make matters worse mercs started pouring in from a side door.
"Well what now!?" Kasumi shouted/asked over the gunfire.
"You deal with these clown, I'm gonna go deal with meatball" Kasumi chuckled at the joke as Boss leaped up the dropships level and started gliding towards it. Hock tried to steer away from the Saint, but it was too late as he crashed through the windshield. Before Hock could say anything Boss grabbed him by the collar of his suit and said, "I. Am tired" he slammed him into the flight controls repeatedly. "Of. Your white suit" the panel started sparking. "Your. Cheap-ass wine" the controls were now on fire. "And your weird-ass accent!" Boss finished as he tossed a severely wounded Hock to the back of the ship, jumping out of the ship and to the top of it, tossing a ice blast at both of the main thrusters and jumping off and back to the landing pad as the ship crashed, crushing any remaining mercenaries and blocking the door, the ship then exploding. Kasumi popped out of cover and said, "Well that was fun"
"I know, right?"
"I was being sarcastic"
"Oh…" a dejected Boss said. Suddenly, they heard screaming. They turned their heads to the dropship and saw a smoldering and on fire Donovan Hock running from the wreckage.
"Oh come on!" Boss screamed as the flaming dealer fell before the both of them and burned to death.
"…Believe it or not that's not the first time that's happened to me" Boss said.
"Really?" Kasumi asked.
"Nah, me and Aaron were robbing this gas stati- er, refueling place and… ah, I'll tell you on the way back to the Normandy" the thief nodded as the two of them walked back to the shuttle to take them back.
Back with Aaron
Aaron deactivated his laptop as he showed Ouroboros what Cerberus was really like. Whenever he raided a lab he often stole a bunch of research information and uploaded it to the computer. He one day wanted to use it as blackmail, but the situation called for it.
"I… I can't believe it" Ouro said as he sat down on the bed. "They… they always told me they were helping people… that's the experiments were harmless… the reason we were after Randall was to help him…"
"Well they lied. Randall left because of the experiments, especially when they turned someone he cared about into some… some abomination"
"I can't believe this… it was all lies… they lied to me!"
"What do you expect from them?"
"But… but why are they helping Shepard take the collectors down?"
"Because they're targeting humans. You think they'd give a crap if they targeted any other species? They wouldn't"
"I just… I feel so betrayed. After everything they did to me, they said I could help…"
"If you don't mind, what did they do?"
"…Do you know why they call me Ouroboros? Do you know what it stands for?"
"Snake eating itself?"
"Yeah… they call me it because I'm a clone"
"Huh?" Aaron asked after a moment.
"It's true. I'm a clone. Every single time I die on a mission they take my remains and melt it down into cloning gel, then they clone me. Even implant my memories, especially of how I died so I could learn from my mistakes"
"Wait, if they can do that, why didn't they do it for Shepard?"
"A lot of reasons. One is it's extremely expensive to clone a corpse, likely more than it took to resurrect him. And… my biology is special. You see, they took my family… my family before me or my parents were born, and they did countless genetic experiments, something about making a soldier with increased strength and speed, along with better reaction time and memory. After generation upon generation they finally succeeded…"
"It was you, wasn't it?"
"Yes…"
"Why did it take so long?"
"Well after a while the subjects did have the necessary effects… they were deformed, but they worked. but they also wanted their genetic makeup made so after they died if the right process is done the body automatically turns into clone gel, actual gel is expensive. So, when I was born I was immediately deemed a success to the project, and a few cybernetic modifications later I was to grow up to be the perfect assassin"
"Grow up to?"
"I wasn't even a year old when they cybernetically modified me"
"Jesus…"
"My parents eventually found a way of escape, so they put me in a ship and put in a pre-determined flight to a turian colony. They… were shot afterwards. I wound up crashing into the colony and a nice turian family cared for me. But around when I was eight they came and slaughtered my new family, than took me back to the labs. After that they trained me for two years and I was basically put on the field after that"
"Weren't you short for a assassin?"
"Some of the mods included rapid growth, but not ageing"
"And the geth voice box…?"
"I didn't get that until recently"
"What about biotics?"
"The genetic modifications didn't allow for that. Besides, they already had Hydra"
"What's his story?"
"I don't know, I think he went through the same thing I did, but for biotics. Surprised he didn't get sent to Pragia like Jack, Hydra was… special. Only difference was his family volunteered for it"
"Damn. And the flame dude?"
"Gehenna? I don't know… we may have been on the same team, but they didn't really like me very much. Never talked about their past or anything… all that mattered was the job"
"Okay… man dude, I didn't know… sorry for bringing this up"
"It's fine Aaron… actually it feels nice. No-one ever has really had much sympathy for me. Don't really see why it matters…"
"Why not?"
"It's another reason why they didn't clone Shepard. Normal clones degrade a lot faster, and full cloned people are… frankly dumb. But because of my gene mods I was as fine as the original me. The only thing is… well every time I die and get cloned, one of my organs are defective. When they try putting a new or cloned one in, my body would reject it, so they would have to get me cybernetic implants"
"Wow. So… how many times have you died?"
"I have a artificial lung, spleen, kidney, and eye. That tell you enough?"
"Wow, you died four times? Wait, what about the voice?"
"Little side project Cerberus had. Hey, now that I told you my story, you gonna tell me yours?"
"Depends. You done with Cerberus?"
"I'll pretend I'm a undercover agent until the collectors are dealt with. After that I'm through with them" Ouro was still debating that matter to himself. Cerberus was… well they always told him that they were helping people, that what he went through, the process of turning him into this science project, that is was for the good of humanity. But he was done with them, that was for sure. The lies, the death of his family, he hoped he would never see them again. And if he did, they would pay.
"Good. Ugh, this is gonna be a long story…" Aaron muttered as he leaned against the wall and explained his entire origins to Ouro.
After a hour of explaining, Ouro gasped as his eyes widened. "Wow. So… your from another universe? That… explains a whole lot, I guess"
"Really?" a surprised Aaron asked.
"Yeah, it does, your cloths, the way you talk, the antique weapons your O.M.G make… and the powers, I suppose. Wow, Cerberus was way off when they were thinking where your powers came from"
"Why, what'd they think?"
"They thought you were some secret Alliance weapon from the council manufactured in a secret lab"
"Wow. -chuckle- they were waaaay off on that one. I bet right now they're trying to figure out the whole super suit thing Boss had"
"Yeah, that's why I was here in the first place, they wanted me to try and get it" Aaron glared at Ouro. "But I'm not going to anymore! Jeez"
"…Alright then. Look, Ouro- you know what, do you have, like, a real name? It doesn't sound right to call you that"
"Yeah, sure. My real name's R-" before he could say anything else the door to the room started to open. Ouro quickly put hid helmet on. The door opened to reveal Shepard.
"Aaron, your friend and Kasumi are back" the commander said with distaste.
"Uh, Shepard… your eyes are glowing"
"What?"
"Yeah, they're glowing red. And your scars look really bad, I think they're starting to spread to the other side to your face" Aaron noted. It was true, Shepard's face was starting to grow worse in terms of the cybernetic scars. And now his eyes were glowing, which was likely a bad sign.
"I don't know what your talking about" Shepard huffed, than said, "We're going to Omega, just so you know. And no, I don't need you or one of your Saints. I just need me and Samara"
"Huh? Samara has a loyalty thing on Omega? What loyalty could that place hold for a justicar?"
"Something about her daughter being an Ardat-Yakshi, something like that. Why?"
"Just wonderin'. Wow, so her daughters one of those? Rough, I heard that if they aren't herded into that monastery they have to get killed… one of the reasons why I hate justicars"
"Because of the Ardat's?"
"Look, it's not anyone's fault that those asari have a… genetic anomaly that makes them kill anyone they mate with than they get stronger, but you don't just herd people like that into some monastery, it's called abstinence. And if there are some that don't want to do that, then put 'em in the monastery. Just my opinion"
"Whatever" Shepard said dismissively as he walked out.
Ouro turned his head to Aaron and said, "I think I'm going to head out too. We can talk later if you want"
"Okay, cool" Aaron said as Ouro walked out, Boss than coming into the room.
"Yo, Aaron! You would not believe the fun time I had at that party"
"So how much murder was there?" Aaron asked as he went to his portable terminal.
"Eh, you know, a lot. You know that in this universe they have a female version of the Joe Mag-a-somthin' statue?"
"Really?" Aaron said in a sarcastic tone.
"Yeah, the 'statue of liberty' or something like that. Whatcha lookin' up?"
"Eh, you know, just random stuff. Shepard ain't taking no-one but the justicar on the next mission, so I got time to kill"
"Wanna hang?"
"Sure, why not?" after that, the two Saints hanged out by looking stuff up on the terminal. Alas they got bored and decided to hang with a few other Saints and even got drunk from the small bar area. Except Aaron. He couldn't get drunk anymore.
"You know -hic- I… Aaron, why are there three of ya?" Pierce asked as he laid upside-down in a chair.
"Ya drunk, Pierce" Aaron explained as he leaned against a wall.
"Oh, that explains the raptors…" he said as he passed out.
"Aaron… Aaron, man I got a question" Boss slurred as he clung onto Aaron, Boss's helmet on a table and his afro sagging slightly.
"What is it, Boss?" Aaron chuckled.
"Do you- do you know the phone number of the girl in the purple suit and the weird legs downstairs?"
"Wait, Tali?" Aaron replied in a shocked tone.
"Y-yeah, hher -hic- I just, ya know wanted to see if she had any free time…"
"A-huh, yeah this is starting to aggravate me, here drink this" Aaron commanded, grabbing a shot of ryncol.
"Oh, what's this? It's green… I think…" Boss muttered as he downed the shot… than spun around as he passed out.
"Man, Boss is out" Gat commented as he held a empty bottle of ryncol.
Aaron looked at Gat in shock and asked, "Dude, how are you still not drunk!? You just drank a bottle of ryncol!"
"So what?" he asked as he placed the bottle down.
"Dude, that's krogan booze, least what's left of it after my shenanigans, it's the only thing that affects them and to top it off it's radioactive"
"Wait, seriously? I better not grow a extra limb or something… I'm gonna go find Grunt" he mumbled as he walked out.
One blackout later
Boss groaned as he got up, rubbing his head.
"You dead from the hangover?" Aaron asked as he crouched in front of Boss.
"Nah, just… wait, where is everyone?"
"Dude, you've been out a while. After you passed out everyone else did except Gat, who got into a drinking contest with Grunt and after Grunt lost and passed out Gat stumbled away to wherever"
"Well how long was I out?" Boss groaned as he slowly got up.
"Well, we're already at Omega, have been for a hour, and the Saints went off to explore. I've been here guarding your ass 'till you got up"
"Agh, thanks for that" Boss said, gripping his head. "So Aaron, Shepard and What's-her-name do the- the thing yet?"
"They're still doing it, I think, tracking down Samara's daughter"
"Shouldn't you have followed them?"
"With you passed out? I couldn't"
"I'm just sayin' man, what if… well look at it this way, Ardat things are powerful, right?"
"Yeah, especially since she's a justicar's daughter"
"Then she's just about as powerful, right? Especially if she's a justice's daughter?"
"Justicar" Aaron corrected. "And yeah, most likely"
"Then wouldn't Shepard want her over Samara?"
"Oh, come on, Shepard wouldn't- actually that sounds like something he would do… ah crap…"
"Would he?"
"I… should probably go check, just… you know, in case"
"Yeah, sounds like a plan"
"What about you, you gonna be okay?"
"Aaron if I can take out a Morningstar squad while drunk I'm sure I'll be fine here" Boss assured.
"Okay, stay safe" Aaron finished as he ran out of the room.
Omega
At this point, Aaron was running around frantically as he tried to find Shepard and/or Samara. The reason for doing this was because he was afraid Shepard would betray Samara and get her killed. But he wouldn't do that… right? It's not that Aaron had any love for the asari, he hated her outright. But maybe if he saved her it would rub her the right way, and she wouldn't want to try and kill him as much. At least Aaron hoped so, although it was unlikely. After ten minutes he felt like giving up when he spotted the red-clothed justicar entering a apartment building.
"Jackpot. Now, I just need to wait 'till something interesting happens" after five minutes of waiting, Aaron got what he wished for as he saw blue/purple biotic energy from a window high up in the apartment. After running up, Aaron hanged outside of the window and saw Samara and a black-suited asari who Aaron assumed to be her daughter in a biotic duel, although they seemed to be at a stalemate. And there was Shepard, looking between the two as if he was making a choice, making Aaron slightly panicky. But Shepard looked at Samara and walked over to her, making Aaron sigh in relief. But to his shock he raised her arm up, cancelling her biotic attack. Samara said something to him before she was blasted back, her daughter slowly walking towards her to finish her off. That just wouldn't do well.
Samara thought it was the end as her daughter Morinth slowly walked over to her, ready to kill her. She had failed in her duties as a justicar, and she was ready to pay the price for it. Morinth stood over her as she raised a biotic fist.
"Goodbye, Mother" she said in a hateful tone. Samara closed her eyes, waiting for the blow to land, but before it did, she heard the window shatter and a familiar voice say "Family intervention!"
The shocked justicar opened her eyes in surprise as she saw Aaron standing before them. Before anyone could say anything his body started arcing black and blue electricity and he telekinetically lifter both Morinth and Samara, slamming each of them into the opposite end of a wall, the power being infused with dark eezo negating their biotic powers.
"Aaron! What the hell do you think your doing!" Shepard yelled.
Aaron chuckled as he saw Shepard wearing a N7 hoodie, with no guns. "What I'm doing is stopping both of you from committing murder, murder being something I am fine with, but this particular situation calls for a intervention"
"You don't understand, Morinth is powerful, she can help with the collectors and-"
"Shepard, I ain't cool with this. Samara, why are you killing your daughter?"
"Because of what she is" the justicar said as she struggled against her telekinetic bonds. "The code will not permit her to be allowed to live!"
"Okay, daughter who I assume to be Morinth, why ya want Mamma to be dead?" Aaron asked, turning to the other asari.
"She doesn't realize how cruel she's been to me!" she screamed. "She's the one who attempted to pen me up in that monastery with my two sisters, but I resisted, so that calls for my death!"
"I sacrificed everything to bore you three!" Samara spat.
"But because I don't want to be cooped up in a temple for the rest of my life, that warrants death!?"
"Okay, enough!" Aaron yelled at the top of his lungs, tightening their bonds. "Look, this entire asari code thing, I do not care for it at all, mostly because it wants me dead too"
"Wait… what are you saying?" Morinth choked out.
"Oh, you don't know? The entire code thing thinks I'm a demon from eons ago, so apparently that means I'm a walking target for every justicar out there"
Morinth didn't know what to say at this point. He… he knew what she was going through?
"So I propose a compromise" Aaron suggested.
"There can be no compromise while she lives" Samara said.
"Well… what if she isn't a Ardat-Yakshi?" Aaron asked.
"What?" everyone else asked in shock? Just what was Aaron trying to do?"
"Well, it goes something like this" Aaron explained, using his telekinesis to fling Morinth's face into his hand. With that, his hand clamped around her head as eezo started flooding from her body into his, Morinth screaming in pain. Afterwords, no more eezo would come, and he released his grasp, Morinth falling to the ground.
"What did you just do?" Samara asked as Aaron let her down from the wall.
"Oh, I just absorbed all of the eezo from her body, so now she can't ever do biotics again"
"You permanently drained her?" Shepard asked in awe.
"Yeah, and on top of never being able to use biotics again she won't be able to fry peoples brains whenever she does it with someone and grow stronger. She is officially cured"
"WHAT!?" Morinth screamed in rage as she popped up from the ground and started to strangle Aaron.
"Hey, what're you doing I just freakin' cured you!" Aaron said in a chocked voice.
"You erased my biotics!" she screeched.
"It was either that or death!" Aaron replied as he pried her off of him. "Look, I just damn saved you, and I know it sucks you don't have powers anymore, but now you can live a normal life! Plus your Mom won't be out to get you anymore"
"I don't want a normal life! It's so… normal lives are so boring! Now what am I supposed to do with my life…?"
"You could always join the Normandy and help us fight the collectors" Shepard suggested.
"There, you see you can roll with us on our space adventures as we exterminate giant bugs. That cool with you, Sam?"
"I… I don't know what to say" the justicar stuttered, before she regained her composure. "Aaron. I would… like a word with you, if you please"
"Eh, sure thing" Aaron shrugged as he followed Samara out into the hallway. When the door closed, Samara turned to Aaron and said, "Aaron, I… I don't know how to thank you"
"Huh?" a confused Aaron asked.
"For curing my daughter. The code dictated that I kill her, but now that she is no longer a Ardat-Yakshi, I nor any other justicar have to carry out an execution"
"So… does that mean your not gonna try to kill me when this is all over?"
"Funny you should mention that. One of the sutras of the code mention that if a cure for Ardat-Yakshi's is ever found, it is to be apprehended by any means and taken to the high justicar court for jurisdiction"
"And let me guess, I'm a complicated case because the code says I'm a demon, so I must die. But I'm also a cure for the Ardat-Yakshi so I also must live 'till I see the court"
"You are correct. In fact, the sutra that mentions the cure is never considered, for a cure has never been conceived and all hope for one was lost"
"Okay, but does that mean that you have to force me there, or…"
"The sutra never mentioned or said the cure would be a person, it considered it would be a more traditional cure, an example being a vial of medicine that could cure it, so it is unknown if I am forced to bring you if you do not wish to accompany me, seeing as I must acquire you by any means"
"Well jeez, I'll go"
"Truly?"
"Yeah sure, after this whole collector thing blows over I can go to this court thing and see about curing the Ardat's at the monastery or temple or whatever. Hell, it might even make them see that I'm not a demon and they'll make it so justicars stop trying to kill me"
"I doubt they would, you have killed other justicars, even if you weren't named a demon anymore they would still attempt to kill you"
"Well, it was a nice thought. Oh well"
"But… I do not consider you a demon. A demon would not have saved my daughter. For that I thank you"
"Yeah, sure thing. Your still gonna try to kill me even after I cure everyone, aren't you?"
"For the fact you killed justicars, yes, but not because you're a demon. And I don't have to look for you. And if we ever do cross paths… you could always run away and lose me"
Aaron smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. "Thanks. At least for telling me if you try to kill me it's not personal anymore. So… you want to talk to your daughter now I guess?"
"You assume correct"
"Alright, I'll send her out" Aaron said as he entered the apartment. "Yo, Morth, your Mama wants ya" Morinth shoved past Aaron and entered the hallway, closing the door. Aaron walked next to Shepard and said, "You realize Samara hates you because you almost intentionally killed her, right?"
"She'll understand" Shepard said.
"Sure she will"
"Aaron, you realize stopping me from killing her and disobeying orders means mutiny?"
"One, you didn't give me an order. And in doing what I did we now have a new squadmate"
"Our new squadmate is a asari with no biotic power. That makes her weak" Shepard noted.
"Well she probably has other skills useful in the field, jeez" Shepard didn't say anything, and the two stood their for a good eight minutes before the two walked in. Aron could tell just from the vibe that they got emotional out there, but it looked resolved now.
"Let's head back to the ship" Shepard huffed. Everyone nodded as they walked out, save for Aaron who decided to glide to the ship.
Normandy
Another normal day on the Normandy when Aaron got back. Normal being he saw Tali and Kinzie arguing about engineering stuff. He sighed, he didn't need to deal with this right now. Pretty soon Shepard and co. would return and then Morinth's living arangements would be set, after that it would be following Shepard towards stopping the collectors. Aaron was starting to grow sick of the commander, and Aaron was pretty sure Boss was going to kill him when this was over. Aaron glanced at Tali again and sighed, but quickly moved out of engineering before she saw him. He opened the elevator, but saw Morinth in it.
"Hey" Aaron said with no emotion as he hit the button to go to deck three.
While the elevator went up Morinth said, "So I just wanted to say thanks for, you know, saving me"
"Sure thing" Aaron said dismisivly.
"Are you even listening?" the asari asked.
"Sorta, I got other things on my mind" before she could ask the door opened. "Seeya Morinth" Aaron finished as they both exited. Looking around, Aaron saw Shepard talking to Zaeed. After they finished, they both got up, Shepard heading towards the elevator.
"So, let me guess, Zaeed's got a problem?" Aaron asked.
"How did you know?" Shepard asked.
"Your not exactly talkative with the crew, and the number of people you helped and/or haven't helped is narrowing. I think the list is down to him and Tali… hey, does she have a problem?" Aaron quickly asked.
"Not that I know of. Why do you ask?" Shepard asked suspiciously, raising a eyebrow.
"…No reason. So where we heading now?"
"Zorya"
A/N- Well here I am, and here be episode twelve. I know it was weird that I saved both of them, but the concept of choosing whether a daughter kills her mother or a mother killing her daughter just felt kind of… wrong, so I went ahead and forged a option C. A lot of this story has been option C so far… next chapter we do the thing with the guy and then we continue with the main story!
So without further ado- wait, I almost forgot, I'm gonna be going back and editing the beginning chapters, 'cause I re-read them and I realized I made A LOT, and I mean A LOT of mistakes. so for those of you that were confused by the first few chapters, I understand and I am sorry, so I'm gonna try and fix 'em. Hey, I was just started writing, I wasn't that good at the time.
Anyway, summer is here, whether chapters will come faster or shorter is… complicated. On the bright side I get all day to write.
Alright, I'm gonna go, so Cya!
