A/N- Hey look, I'm up here now! In all seriousness, I'm back, the reason this chapter taking so long being that I went back and updated all of the previous chapters. Nothing major, just some spelling mistakes and word placement. Also I fixed a bunch of plotholes I saw in the first few chapters, one I got on the top of my head being I said a justicar was working for Eclipse. -bangs head- yeah, I goofed up there. I fixed that, along with a bunch of other major mistakes. Oh, also I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO PUT GRAY DIVIDING LINES IN! Jesus, that took me forever to figure out, apparently you have to edit chapters from the fanfiction site to put those in. So if you wanted to know, that's my way, it worked, I checked, and they're there, so I'll be using those a lot now.
Oh, also while editing I realized that Mordin's loyalty mission would actually be important in the long run, so I went back and said that Shepard was too busy filing reports while at Tuchanka, so Aaron will be doing that mission. Sorry for the confusion.
Anyhoo, to make up for the long wait, here's a chapter with 11 thousand words. Not counting the Author's Notes.
MASS MISCALCULATION
Episode 13- Bad student, good means
Things on the Normandy had, for a better lack of terms, quieted down. Sure, they were still going to a planet where Zaeed wanted to enact vengeance upon some mercenaries, but the ride there was normal all the same. In truth it gave time to think about current events… than it hit him that ever since the Saints had been recruited he had forgotten about Randall, who had agreed to help him with the collectors. When the Saints came aboard Aaron had had a conversation with Boss, the former's intention being to try to when this collector thing was over to try and convince Boss to let Randall join the Saints. Boss had been hesitant to do so, saying, "Why would we want some crusty old dude in the Saints?" Aaron had countered by stating that Randall under experimentation by Cerberus had immense biotic power, not to mention an equally immense combat skill. Boss had eventually given in, agreeing to take him in when it got to the point where Aaron confessed that as a mercenary Randall's jobs were becoming more and more scarce, no-one wanting to hire a 'Cerberus lab rat' despite his high record for completed jobs. Speaking of Cerberus Miranda had been asking questions, to the point where Aaron had to confirm Randall's existence. After a quick chat with The Illusive Man via QEC he had explained that the Director and the research base he was in charge of was a rogue faction of Cerberus he had no part of. Aaron and Randall knew that was a lie, but the important thing was that Randall got to stay. But now they were over Zorya, and he and Ezno went to the docking bay.
"Why bring him?" Shepard muttered under his breath as he looked at the two. Zaeed was already in the dropship and Aaron already wanted to go, by he wanted to bring a fourth squad member?"
"Well, you know, I was thinkin' Zaeed's a old dude, Randall's a old dude, so symmetry, you know?" Aaron explained as he gestured back and fourth from Randall to the dropship.
"Yea- hey wait…" Ezno sputtered as he pasted a cold glare onto Aaron.
"The point is I think he should come on the mission, he could be a big help" after giving his explanation, Aaron crossed his arms as he gazed at Shepard behind his sunglasses.
After a moment of contemplating, Shepard grunted in agitation and fixed his red eyes on them. "Fine. He can come, but if he screws up even once he's gone, got it?"
"Yeah yeah, come on dude" Aaron said, prompting him and Randall to enter the dropship. Shepard didn't like any of this, more specifically he didn't like Aaron. The moment he saw the virtual Saint back when they recruited him on Omega he didn't like him, he was too… unstable, a word Shepard didn't use lightly. If it was up to him he would have killed Aaron a long time ago, but because of his powers Shepard didn't see how he could do that, especially now that he had his friends to back him up. But one of these days Aaron would have his… for Shepard it was just a matter of waiting…
Once landing, the squad had exited the dropship, the squad getting off at a lush field overlooking the refinery, Zaeed started taping into Blue Suns communications while Aaron and Randall gazed at the smokestack in the distance.
"So… that's where Zaeed needs to go?" Randall asked.
"Yeah, apparently Zaeed has a grudge against someone there, said he stole his merc band from his and shot him in the head" Aaron said.
"How the hell does someone survive something like that?" Ezno wondered.
"Believe me, stuff like that happens all the time" Aaron explained. It was true, back in the old days when running with the Saints things had often happened to either he and Boss and they got out unscathed or someone they were trying to kill escaped a mortal wound, the best examples Aaron could think of being he and Boss surviving the yacht explosion while the former leader of the Syndicate, Loren, had survived a knife wound in the eye. Aaron glanced offer at Zaeed. "So, we need to expect anything?"
"Other than some ambushes along the way, nothing much" Zaeed gruffly stated as he readied his rifle. The squad nodded as they marched to the refinery, Zaeed being right about the ambushes by they were just Blue suns troops, which they had killed easily enough. They did however come upon a peculiar set of dead bodies, looking as if they were executed.
"Shots to the head. Clean. Definitely Vido" Zaeed noted.
"Seriously? The dude that we're after is named Vido?" Aaron asked, suppressing a chuckle.
"Yeah, why?"
"No reason. So, does he just leave executed bodies out in the open like this?"
"Vido doesn't care about stuff like that. Long as he job gets done, he could care less" Aaron grimly nodded at the statement as they continued onto the refinery. Coming upon the southern entrance, they wer met with a heavy opposition of Blue Suns, forcing the squad to take cover.
"Aaron, any ideas!?" Randall yelled over the gunfire.
"Um…" he peeked his head out of cover, a bullet whizzing by his ear. He went back into cover and looked at the squad. "Yeah, I got one. Everybody get behind me!" They complied, getting behind him as dark eezo raced around his body, a shield forming in front of Aaron. "Okay, this is the plan! We're gonna use this thing as a riot shield and go out there, than use it as mobile cover and shoot them!"
Randall nodded. It made sense in terms of protection, Cerberus centurions used this tactic multiple times. But he had one concern. "This thing's not gonna break, right?"
"No!… maybe, I never used it like this before, in fact I barely ever use this thing! And it doesn't just protect against bullets, it sends them back, so it'll only give out if I run out of juice!"
"How much time have we got!?" Shepard shouted as the huddled group got out of cover, sticking their guns from the sides of the shield and picking the mercs off.
"We got enough time!" Aaron assured. Sure enough, all the mercs were dead as Aaron put the shield down.
They continued through the refinery, more mercenaries popping up here and there and Vido going as far as to contact Zaeed on the comms and taunt him as they went along, but with the four of them it was short work when getting to Vido, being on a upper platform with two other mercs at his side. Aaron raised a eyebrow once he saw him. He was a dark-skinned human with short black hair, helmetless with Blue Suns armor. All and all Aaron was expecting… a bit more out of him.
"So, your finally here. Ah, you must be the great Aaron I've been hearing about" he goaded as he and the mercs brought their rifles out.
"And you must be Vido! Weird name by the by. And this ain't about me, this is about Zaeed getting even with you"
"If this is about us than why are you here? You have no quarrel with me, do you?"
"Nah, I don't think you ever sent a hit squad after me, but I don't really like it when people in a gang betray people like you did"
"And what exactly is it to you?" Vido asked. He was starting to get agitated with this guy, this was between him and Zaeed, Aaron didn't have any part in this.
Aaron was mad because this reminded him of Julius all over again, they way he had betrayed him and Boss. He lost seven years of his life because of Julius, and Zaeed was lucky that he didn't get the same fate when he was shot in the head. "Look, I've been in Zaeed's shoes. I know what it's like when someone in a gang betrays you, and frankly, I don't like it. So when I see Zaeed here undergoing a similar fate such as mine I figured I could help him out, seeing as the same thing happened to me"
"Cute story" Vido taunted, "but it's not going to get you anywhere in terms of getting out of here alive, you realize that?"
"I've had enough of this" Zaeed muttered, taking his pistol out and shooting Vido, Vido leaning out of the way just in time for the bullet to miss.
"Hah! Your getting nearsighted in you advanced age, old man!" Vido laughed as he regained his composure.
"Um, I don't think he was aiming at you" Aaron said, pointing to the pipe behind Vido. The merc leader turned around to see gas leaking out of the pipe. Vido yelled in frustration and ducked just as the pipe exploded, injuring him and killing his two guards, the explosion setting off a chain reaction and causing other explosions across the refinery. "You know it probably wasn't the best idea to set off a EXPLOSIVE PIPE in a REFINERY!" Aaron screamed at Zaeed as the four clipped a pair of mercs as they ran after Vido.
"Well what else was I supposed to do?" Zaeed coldly asked.
"Um, shoot him!?"
"He had guns pointing at us! And unlike you, bullets kill us!"
"Fair point!" after some more explosions Randall stopped in his tracks.
"Wait, what about the workers here?" he asked.
"There are workers here? And what about them?" Aaron questioned.
"They'll die in this fire unless we help them!"
"I'm not letting them getting away" Zaeed growled, bringing his pistol up.
Aaron stepped in front of him and waved his arms frantically. "Alright alright alright, look, there's four of us so why don't we split up? Me and Randall will save the workers, you and Shepard go after Vido, that good?"
"I don't like us splitting up like this… but I can see you'll go regardless, so go" Shepard commanded. Aaron nodded as they both split up.
Jumping down a platform, Randall and Aaron immediately spotted a worker on a catwalk across from them, waving over to them.
"Guys! Hey, you guys! A little help over here!" he shouted. Aaron looked at the worker and saw all of the exits were blanketed in fire, more workers trying to find ways out.
"Dude, how'd you get over there?" Aaron shouted over to him.
"I was doing my damn job when the fire broke out
"Aaron, what do we do here?" Randall asked.
"A'ight, I'm thinking… wait, I'm immune to fire while my fire buffer is active, so I'll sprint through the fire and find a way to, I dunno, redirect the fuel system or something to stop the fire, while you get the workers out of here"
The plan to Randall sounded skeptical at best. "Uh-huh. And how are you getting out?"
"I'll find a way, now go!" Aaron yelled as he turned fire buffer on. Randall nodded as he dodged around the fire in and effort to get to the workers. For him, getting to the workers was harder than it seemed, having to dodge around the fire constantly. And the workers panicking as they tried to get out didn't help him much either, but he tried his best to get them to the exits.
For Aaron redirecting the fuel was easy. All he had to do was sprint through the fire in order to reach the valves, dodging the occasional pipe or two. Once all the pipes were turned most of the fire was extinguished. Having done his part and nodding he sprinted and jumped down to the catwalks, seeing Randall escorting a dozen workers out.
"So how'd we do?" Aaron asked. Randall turned around and sighed as the last worker left.
"No-one died, but a lot of them have several burn injuries, other than that they seem to be fine"
"Great, well that was easier than I thought it was gonna be. Guess now we just need to get back to Shepard"
Running after Vido was harder than Shepard and Zaeed had first anticipated. One was the fact there were several exploding pipelines all around them as they tried to fight their way to him, Blue suns being a major distraction. Along the way Shepard had managed to find the M-451 Firestorm, a flamethrower, on the body of a dead mercenary, and once he had acquired the flamethrower Shepard had started burning all the mercs he found alive, Zaeed slightly disturbed seeing Shepard taking pleasure in burning the mercs alive. Making their way to the refinery core, they were forced to take cover. More mercs, as well as pyros were making their ways towards them. While taking pot shots at the mercs Zaeed commented, "Maybe you should have went to save the workers while Aaron stayed with me!"
"We don't need him, I'm pretty sure we can take out a group of mercs" Shepard grunted in response as he actually dove out of cover and put a round into the head of each merc, adrenaline flooding his systems and making everything appear slow, Shepard shooting faster than the mercs could aim. When they all fell dead Shepard fixed his red gaze on Zaeed. "See? We don't need it" his words were drowned out though as the unmistakable stomping of a YMIR mech shook him from his adrenaline rush and fired a rocket at him, however Shepard was lucky enough to dive into cover just in time. The flamethrower being useless in this scenario, Shepard and Zaeed were forced to do this the old fashioned way, Zaeed taking his assault rifle out and slowly bringing it's health down, Shepard doing the same but with a shotgun being closer. This continued for a few minutes, one of the two being forced to take cover one in awhile when the mech opened fire on them but eventually it fell, exploding on the spot.
Getting to the landing pad, the two saw Vido limping towards a gunship. "Vido!" Zaeed screamed, firing a round from his rifle to get his attention. Vido whipped around in shock and tried to draw his pistol but Zaeed reacted by shooting him in the leg, causing him to crumple onto the ground. Zaeed was about to shoot Vido in the head, narrowing his eyes when he saw that Vido was laying in a puddle of fuel. Smirking, he ejected a thermal clip into the pool, the fuel catching on fire and walking away as Vido was burned alive, the man screaming as the dropship behind him exploded. He heard a 'thump' and turned around, seeing Aaron staring at the wreckage.
"Damn man, you burned him" Aaron commented as he stepped away from the flames.
"So?" Zaeed asked.
"Nothin', just saying… Shepard is that a flamethrower?"
Shepard put on a creepy smile as he held it up. "Yeah, I found it on a dead merc. I think I'm gonna keep it"
"Ah boy, he has a flamethrower now…" Aaron sighed as he held a hand to his head. "Anyway, we got the workers out, Randall's not far behind"
"Good, than we're going back" Shepard said as he turned around, walking back to the shuttle.
"Finally, had enough of this place to last a lifetime" Zaeed muttered as he followed him.
Normandy
"Any of that back their rub you the wrong way?" Randall asked Aaron. The mission was over with now, with the refinery being restored and the workers at work in it again, and the Blue Suns threat being quelled, the ship taking off to… wherever Shepard needed to go next, Randall and Aaron in the latter's room. Speaking of the room, when Aaron entered it he noticed there was another old katana sword crossed over with the one he already had, and a note attached to it explaining that it was from Morinth, as a sort of thanks for getting her Mother not to kill her… but the note stated that she was still mad about the loss of her biotics, but she said she would try to adapt.
"So he burned a guy alive. A guy who was willing to let a bunch of innocent workers burn to death I might add" Aaron said as he leaned on the wall, maintaining a cool manner of speech.
Randall for his part was the opposite of cool, speaking in a hot fashion, "he didn't need to burn him alive!"
"Hey, Boss would have done the same thing in his position"
"He was in the same position! And all he did was shoot him" Randall pointed out.
"Yeah, but he shot him in the stomach first" receiving a queer look from Ezno, Randall sighed. "Okay fine, so Boss didn't burn him alive, but his betrayal wasn't as bad as Zaeed's"
"Zaeed walked away with some facial scarring, your Boss lost five years of his life"
"…Your really not helping me here, look, what's done is done. It was Zaeed who needed to finish his own thing his way, and that's what he did, and I can't exactly bring the dead back to life, so can we just drop the matter? And focus on this entire collector thing despite it being awhile since we fought them?" Aaron mentioning this brought slight anger to himself. In all honesty he thought going on these random missions was a waste of time, since the collectors were abducting colonists, he just wanted to get to them as fast as possible.
But… in reality the colonists weren't his real motive. Back on the collector ship, when Asha had died, Matt was just carried off by seeker swarms. Everyone in Shepard's crew kept telling him Matt was likely dead, but Aaron didn't want to believe it, neither did the other Saints, but were they supposed to do, no-one knew what they did with the humans they abducted, and on the ship they had seen numerous bodies of humans from failed experiments, so for all they knew he was either still alive, dead, or too mentally traumatized to be himself ever again. And even if he was still okay and they managed to rescue him, Aaron wasn't sure Matt would be the same, mostly because of Asha. Boss had told him that he and her had worked together for quite awhile, and he had grown a sort of attraction to her. When he found out she was dead…
Aaron shook his head and sighed once more. He could worry about that when… if… they got Matt back. These pointless missions weren't helping him ease his worry though.
However, these missions were also helping people focus, at least that's what EDI, what with her statistics, said. And for all he knew she was right. Not being focused could kill them if they ever assaulted the collectors.
Once more Aaron sighed.
"You sigh a lot, you know that?" Randall noted.
"Eh, force of habit"
"And exactly what cause that habit?"
"I don't know, it's just… natural. Hell if I know why. So exactly where are we going now in terms of the next mission?"
"Your not gonna like it, Tuchanka"
"Fuck!"
"And Mordin's the one who has the problem this time"
"Double!"
"And Shepard wanted you to do it"
"I'm gonna drop his ass from orbit one of these days… anyway, I'm gonna go talk to the froggy, find out why the hell a salarian wants to go to krogan central, then I'm gonna take a long-ass nap… remind me why Shepard wanted me to lead the damn mission?"
"Something about being too lazy to do it himself"
"I'm gonna kill him one day… Seeya later" Aaron grumbled as he left the room.
Lab
"You know I'm very mad at you" was the first words Aaron uttered as soon as he entered the research lab, Mordin looking into a microscope.
Mordin briefly looked up. "Have no prior knowledge of intentionally causing felling of ill repute towards you"
"I'm talking about Tuchanka, and why you want to head there" Aaron snapped. Mordin didn't say anything, just stopping from what he was doing and typing on his omni-tool briefly before turning to face him, taking a breath. "Have old colleague, was on Tuchanka, used to be part of same STG team I was on when studying genophage"
"Yeah, weren't you guys monitoring it to make sure krogan didn't develop an immunity"
"False information, krogan already were starting to show signs of developing a immunity, our team was tasked with updating genophage"
"Wait, so they were getting used to the thing, so your team… upgraded it?"
"Correct" by this time Mording had gone back to the microscope.
"Man, that's cold" Aaron said dryly.
"Opinions of others concerning genophage was never a concern of mine, took no pleasure in work but was needed, simulations showed that modifying genohpage was only way to continue stability"
"Simulation isn't a word I like Mordin" Aaron growled.
The salarian's eyes widened. "Of course, didn't mean to bring… bad memories. -Breath- anyway, back onto matter of discussion, former colleague, Maelon, captured by krogan, suspect they know he being part of team which modified genophage"
"So a salarian is being held by a bunch of krogan who know he helped modify the genophage. Mordin, just to be clear, you wanted this guy alive, right?"
"Realize chance of survivability is low, krogan not known for mercy, just… need to make sure"
"Alright man, I'll help out, just who exactly is coming with us?"
"Made a deal with one of your friends, agreed to help him in a personal matter in exchange for helping with this, believe his name was Pierce"
Aaron's eyes widened in surprise. "And what exactly are you helping out with Pierce?"
"Doctor-patient confidentiality"
"Of course, well… I'm gonna take a long-ass nap 'till we get there, but don't worry Nutty, we'll get Jason back yet"
"…I don't know what you are referring to"
"It's- it's a movie reference… I watched a lot of movies in high school, okay? Look, just… I'm going, so see you then"
"Will be here if you need me" Mordin said. Aaron walked to the door but before it opened he asked, without turning around, "Hey Doc… do you believe in people seeing the future? Psychics, things like that? "
Mordin glanced at Aaron again. "Not in my place to believe anything in the spiritual sense, was brought up to believe in science. Why?"
"…It's nothing, just… stay safe Doc. 'Till the mission that is" With that, Aaron left to take his nap.
In the messhall, nothing unusual usually happened, with it being an area of the ship where crewmembers just ate their meals and sometimes took a nap in one of the sleeper pods leading to the main battery. At least, usually there were no disturbances under normal circumstances.
But ever since the Saints came aboard nothing had been normal, as such lead to Ben and Boss arguing with Garrus, to the point where any and all other crewmembers had strayed away from them.
"All I'm saying is the Saints are not just people who go around systematically murdering people!" Boss yelled at the turians face. The entire conversation had started when they were talking about Garrus's old job at C-sec, and how he didn't care for gangs such as theirs, going as far as to insult them.
"From what Aaron told me you've killed more people than you can count" Garrus replied dryly.
"Oh believe me, I can count pretty high" Boss said.
"Is this really necessary?" Ben asked, trying to worm out of the conversation.
"King, you agree when I say the Saints aren't just about killin', right?"
"Killin' is a big part of it though" Ben reminded Boss.
"Yeah well that's just a part, it's not the whole thing"
"Look, Garrus, are we really arguing about this, I mean sure I've seen my share of action during when I was in the Vice but still, I've seen the Saints, they aren't just some, some merc band"
"Yeah I'm sure you've seen plenty of action, tubby"
"Oh damn…" Boss muttered, turning his armored head.
"…What'd you just call me?" Ben growled.
"I'm just saying, it's hard to imagine how you could have caught any action what with you being a little soggy around the midsection" Garrus remarked.
"Bird boy, you really don't wanna go there" Boss warned, but was too late as Ben punched Garrus in the face, causing the turian to stagger. "Told you" Boss said.
The look on Ben's face described him to be furious, but before Garrus could retaliate Boss stepped in between them. "Okay look, if you guys want to settle this, settle it in the ring downstairs"
Ben glared at Boss. "Oh, it's gonna be settled. But your gonna do it"
"Alright Ben- what?" Boss asked, tilting his head to the side.
"Hey, you the guy who beat Killbane and a bunch of his goons in Murder Brawl, not me, so you can mess him up"
"Ben, I think your taking this a little to far…" before Boss could say anything else Garrus got in front of him.
"Oh no, I'm not letting that one slide. Besides, us turians love a good spar, so why not?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.
Boss sighed. "Whatever. I tried to warn you. Ben, spread the word, me versus the bird"
Inside his room, Aaron kept tossing and turning in his sleep, mumbling incoherently. However, he was shaken out of his dream when the door to his room opened, a figure walking in and shaking his shoulder. "Ugh, wa… wha is it?" Aaron mumbled.
"Yo Aaron, Boss is about to fight the turian dude, I wanted to see if you wanted to come and watch" Aaron looked up to see Pierce shaking him away.
"Ugh, alright, alright… what the hell did Garrus do to piss Boss off anyways?"
"Called Ben fat" Pierce said dryly. He had to admit he was mad Garrus had made that remark to, in fact all the Saints were mad.
Aaron winced behind his glasses. "Oh. No wonder. Wait, if he insulted Ben, why is Boss fighting?"
"Ben figured Boss would be able to mess Garrus up more than himself"
"Well, he's right in that regard. Shepard cool with this?"
"He didn't care, 'parentally he condones this kind of stuff. C'mon" Pierce said as he left the room. Aaron groaned and got up, following Pierce into the elevator as it made it's decent.
"…Pierce seeing as we have quite a bit of time until these elevator doors open, I gotta ask, what's Mordin helping you with?" Aaron asked.
Pierces eyes widened as he looked around wildly. "How the hell do you know about that!?" he screamed.
Aaron backed up. "Because I'm going on a mission with him and he said you were going too" he explained.
Pierce shook his head back and forth. "Nuh-uh, I ain't telling squat, it's my personal thing" Aaron shrugged, turning around, but than Pierce groaned in irritation. "Alright fine, he said he would help me with my phobia of purple soda! And bee's if we ever got around to it!"
Aaron didn't say anything. Than he sputtered as he had to hold back a laugh, but it proved useless as he fell on his back, roaring with laughter as Pierce groaned in frustration again. After a minute pierce kicked Aaron in the midsection, prompting him to get up.
Still snickering, Aaron said, "That's it? Man, that's… I gotta tell Boss that one"
"No! You can't tell anyone!" Pierce yelled.
"Look Pierce, it's not my fault that your fear of purple fluids came from the idea of bad marketing… -sigh- fine, you win, I won't tell anyone"
Pierce let out a relieved sound. "Thanks man"
"Yeah sure thing, but if you grow a fear of asari head fringes I draw the line there"
Undoing the last piece of armor, Boss tossed the shoulder piece aside, laying on top of the pile of armor, said pile being guarded by Ben. Boss, for hit part, was still wearing his blue zin crewman suit with the zin symbol on it and his purple tinted sunglasses, the other Saints remaining in their suits to until they could get different cloths. Many crewmembers had asked about the symbol, but often they were dismissed by the Saints, just calling it a rival 'gang sign'. Garrus had stepped out of his armor, wearing a the underdressing he always wore under his armor, a blue robe-type clothing that fitted his entire frame. The elevator door opened, Aaron and Pierce stepping out, Aaron noticing a majority of the crew was here, along with the Saints. Stepping into the ring, Boss nodded at Garrus, while Garrus asked, "Shouldn't you take the glasses off? Or do you need them?"
"Nah…" Boss said, taking the glasses off and giving them to Ben. As soon as he faced Garrus, he, along with all the crewmembers gasped when they saw that his irises were purple. "What?" Boss asked.
"Your… your eyes" Garrus gulped as he pointed to them.
Boss put on a confused look. "What, these? Yeah, I was born with purple eyes, so what?"
"…That, that isn't normal…" Tali said, who was in the back on the gym behind some crew members.
Aaron leaned next to Boss and whispered, "I don't think humans in this universe are born with in eyes like that"
"Really? Oh, uh… shit what do I say?"
"Make something up!" Aaron hastily whispered as he went back to his spot next to Pierce.
Boss put a hand to his head as he was mumbling to himself, than said, "It's a extremely rare genetic thing, more rare than what Joker has… also there was some genetic manipulation involved a few of my family's generations back, if that clears it up" Boss lied. It made sense, illegal genetic experimentation happened all the time, so saying he had purple eyes due to it made sense. At least in Boss's eyes.
Garrus was less convincing, but nevertheless eager to get the fight going. "We can discuss it later, let's just do it"
"A'ight, let's go" Boss threw his fists up in a boxer stance and Garrus got into a standard CQC military stance. The two combatants circled each other, waiting for one to make the fist move. That one happened to be Garrus, who threw a jab out. But to his surprise, Boss actually dodged the punch. Slightly frustrated, Garrus kep sending more and more jabs and punches, but Boss kept dodging, even going as far as to smirk as he dodged. Having enough, Garrus cupped his fists together and squng them down in one punch, Boss surprising Garrus even more by momentarily catching the fists and using the momentum to swing Garrus's body to the ends of the ring. Stepping back several feet, Boss sprinted towards Garrus, jumping into the air and delivering a haymaker unto his face, causing him to stagger as Boss grabbed his shoulders and shoved him across the ring. Sprinting again, Garrus assumed he would try the same thing again and was ready to counter it, but instead Boss slightly zigzagged until he was at Garrus's side, slightly hopping and hitting him with his fist and foot. Staggering away, Boss sprinted at him once more, hitting the ground and sliding between Garrus legs, quickly getting up while grabbing one of the turians legs, flipping him over.
Dazed, Garrus hit the ground, Boss flipping and managing to sit on Garrus, pinning his arms. Raising his fists, Boss began to repeatedly punch Garrus in the face, using both his fists.
Garrus for his part was confused as more and more pain rushed into his face. These weren't military stances or attacks this guy was using, it was just blind force and speed, with no coordination. And yet he was winning! And to think he used to be one of the top sparer's from his old unit…
"Aaron, isn't he… going a little hard on him?" the virtual man turned his head to see Jacob inching towards him.
Aaron shrugged. "Well Garrus had it coming"
"Still…" Jacob rubbed his chin. "He's fighting like some kind of thug. And yet he's… doing it so skillfully"
"Well, that's Boss. Guy always had unnatural strength and stamina, something about having a forty-seventh chromosome that improves stuff like that… plus he's been fighting ever since we we're kids. He just makes the moves up, tries them out on people he's fighting, if it doesn't work he keeps modifying the technique until it's perfect. In his case his speed and strength lets him just punch and kick wherever and it'd be difficult to block, and him sprinting to gain momentum"
"Damn, that's… pretty smart actually"
"Yeah, blame the chromosome… guy acts like a idiot most of the time but when he's serious he gets scary"
"Kind of like you"
"Yeah, I guess…"
"So, that's his secret, a rare chromosome and years of improvised street fighting? No genetic altering other than his eyes?" At this utterance Miranda, who had a bored expression on her face and was leaning on a beam, leaned in to listen to the conversation.
Aaron shook his head. "Nah, that was just a attempt at giving him nightvision, but it only gave him purple eyes. Other than that, no" he lied. In truth in his old dimension people were born with a variety of colored eyes, usually all the colors there was. From time to time he'd see people with red eyes, or yellow eyes, than people with unnaturally vibrant greens and blues… Aaron falling into a unusual vibrant blue category.
That's the one thing he didn't like about this universe, all the humans eye's here were so boring in terms of color. All they had were dull shades of green, blue, and brown. Sure, there were cybernetics, but they weren't natural.
"Huh. Well, that's interesting" Jacob continued. "You know, you should probably stop the fight now" frowning, Aaron looked over to the fight, seeing blue blood start to leak from the turians mouth.
"Yeeeeah, you're probably right. Yo, Boss!" stopping his assault, the leader of the Saints looked up at Aaron. "I think Garrus gets the point"
Sighing, Boss got up, helping Garrus to his feet. Spitting a blue wad out of his mouth, Garrus fumbled and almost tripped, Tali catching him. "Let's get you to the med-bay" she said, taking him to the elevator. Boss turned around only to be met with the harsh stares of most of the crewmembers. "What?"
"You didn't have to beat him near death" Kasumi said.
"I wasn't that hard on him!" Boss defended.
"You were beating him to the point the was spitting blood" Aaron pointed out.
"Oh, now your defending them?"
"I ain't defending no-one, as far as I'm concerned I'm neutral in this entire situation"
"Fine, fine… I'm gone" with that, Boss left. And all the stares turned to Aaron.
"Okay look, how was I supposed to know he would go that far? And plus Garrus started it when he called King overweight"
"In highsight I may have overreacted" King admitted. The crewmembers muttered to themselves, than left, piling into the elevator.
"…Well, that was awkward" Aaron looked up at the intercom. "Joker, we at Tuchanka yet?"
"Yeah Aaron, and Shepard gave the greenlight. You can go whenever you need to"
Aaron nodded, looking at Pierce. "Okay, we're gonna need Mordin, go get him. We're leaving now, considering Shepard doesn't stab us in the back and bomb us from orbit for what Boss did"
Aaron never chastised himself as a angry person. Sure he got aggravated, but only at moments that demanded it. And this was one of those moments. From the moment he stepped out of the shuttle landing on the Urdnot clan's landing area, over a dozen krogan had guns pointing at them.
"What the hell, I thought we we're cool with Wrex now?" Aaron asked.
"The deal was you take those purple mercs away. You brought one back. Plus we still hate you" a krogan in white armor stated.
"Well we're on business, okay? Business that doesn't harm any of you" Aaron explained.
The krogan stepped out of the way, but they're guns were still pointed at them. "You got five minutes. Make it count" the krogan growled. Nodding, Aaron and co. made their way through the crowd, directly walking to the stone throne Wrex sat upon.
"So… one of the biggest pains in the asses of the krogan arrives once again. The hell do you want?" Wrex gruffly asked, crossing his arms.
"You know you krogan are very morbid. Anyway, we're looking for a salarian, went missing here"
"A salarian? On Tuchanka? He got a death wish or something?"
"Probably, he was taken by a clan of krogan, not this one I'm guessing"
"… Hm… my scout leader did pray tell of a scout informing him that clan Werloc had a salarian captive. Said something about having a unusual influx of women recently, too, but the scout went missing. If you want any leads, I'd talk to him" he pointed to the far end of the courtyard, a krogan in silver armor standing near a massive pair of guns.
"Alright, cool. Hey, by any chance could you get these guys to stop pointing guns at us? Hostile as hell" Pierce asked.
"Not really, they still all hate Aaron for the ryncol business awhile back. So no. Good luck" Aaron uneasily nodded as they made their way over to the scout leader, a ever-present scowl on his face.
"What is it you want?" he gruffly asked.
"I swear, do one thing to piss all these guys off… we're here about the scout that went missing" Aaron deadpanned.
"Oh, him. Yeah, he got captured by Weyrloc, led by a krogan battlemaster by the name of Guld" the krogan looked to the side in disgust. "I swear, his clan worships him"
"Worships? Who the hell worship's a dude?" Pierce asked.
" -Cough- Zinyak" Aaron muttered.
The krogan tilted his head to the side in confusion, than righted himself, saying, "Apparently the man had two children, than everybody thought he was some prodigy, some 'future of the krogan' and 'a sign that the genophage was weakening'. look, that's not it. Some people just got incredibly large and dumb luck, like my cousin, won some sort of lottery at the Citadel. It was only by luck that Guld has two children" he narrowed his eyes. "I'd ask my cousin for a loan, but I wouldn't worship him"
"What of the salarian? Unharmed?" Mordin asked.
"I don't know, all likely-hood points to the word 'no' though. If you want I can have one of my scouts take you to the edge of the building where he was spotted, supposed to be some old hospital. Your on your own after that though"
"Sounds good enough, let's go!" Aaron shouted, the group heading towards the video depot.
Normandy
Garrus groaned as he fluttered his eyes opened, pain throbbing in his head as he saw that he was in the medbay, Shepard, Tali, and surprisingly Miranda standing near his bed, with Chakwas in her chair while typing on a medical terminal.
Letting out a groan, Garrus asked, "What happened"
"You let a street punk beat you up with cheap tactics and moves" Shepard scolded.
"Shepard! He got knocked unconscious, he doesn't need your criticism!" Tali chastised, standing between him and Garrus.
"While I agree with Tali, I must say that the fact that Garrus, a turian with military training, was taken down by someone of what Aaron calls the 'Boss's' tactics was, for lack of a better term, pathetic"
Shepard nodded. "We need to talk about him and his Saints. They're getting out of line" he said.
"What do you mean?" Garrus grumbled as he held his head in pain.
"Look, Aaron himself is a loose cannon, he doesn't take authority from anyone, and he only listens to his fellow Saints. Which brings up a rather interesting topic, how was it that Boss managed to best him?" Miranda questioned.
"I don't know, Miranda. All I know is that while the Saints, only being a common street gang, are unusually… versatile. From what I've heard of Aaron entire military detachments have been sent towards their capture" Shepard explained.
Miranda frowned. "That doesn't make sense, wouldn't we have heard from that?"
Shepard shook his head. Mentally he was sighing. He was still being forced to keep Aaron and the other Saints from being from another dimension a secret, but with these questions it was proving impossible. He continued, "The Saints don't leave any survivors, ever from what he said. For a short and sweet explanation, dead men tell no tales"
"Well what exactly are we to do about them? They're out of control, Aaron has spurred them to the point where they hate Cerberus as much as he does, and who's to say what they will do when the mission is over? Run rampant on the galaxy?" Miranda put a hand to her head in exhaustion.
"I'm not letting that happen" Shepard declared. "Let's just say… I have a plan to deal with them"
"Pray tell"
"Well, when I was visiting councilor Anderson awhile back on the Citadel the Council decided to give me a 'honorary spectre status' card. With spectre status, I could… per se' send a anonymous hint to the Alliance, telling them where he and his gang are, along with one of the powered armored soldiers that shot the council members. They would attack them immediately for the killing of Aaron and the technology"
"Shepard, your not serious!" Tali shouted, stepping up to him. "You want to bring a alliance fleet down upon him? Do you know how crazy that sounds?"
"Tali, I have a lot of doubt that even Aaron could take on the full brunt of the Alliance. He's not invincible. Besides, it's a last resort. As soon as the mission is over, they're leaving us. I just hope they don't mutiny when this is over…"
"You say that like the Saints are just genocidal monsters!"
"Tali, look at them! They're worse than mercs, they're… they're thugs! They are dangerous, and possess technology they shouldn't even have. It almost sounds like you sympathize with them, Tali"
Chakwas raised a hand. "If I may, commander, I have had several long conversations with a few of the Saints, especially Ben. They seem to be decent people"
"Yeah, until you insult their weight…" Garrus grumbled.
"It's just… I may have mentioned this before, but while you were being reconstructed Shepard Aaron helped the quarian people once, he saved many lives. It started out when he was accompanying a quarian returning from pilgrimage. He was kind to our people, and when he saved all of those quarian lives he didn't even ask for any payment"
"Really? And how exactly did that work?" Shepard asked.
Tali sighed. "It all started when…"
Meanwhile on Tuchanka
Stepping out of the tomkah, Aaron gazed at the destroyed hospital ruins. "Okay, so Mordin, the plan is go in, kill any krogan on sight, rescue the hopefully still alive Maelon, than get out. And as a little side objective see if we can find that captured scout and possibly clip Guld"
"Affirmative" Mordin simply said with determination, loading a thermal clip into a smg.
"Alright, sounds simpler than most of the other shit we've done in the past" Pierce said, readying his alien rifle.
"Nah, using a helicopter to kill a giant soda monster in a simulation is normal. If fact if we don't that would be off. Okay, let's go" Aaron said, marching towards the hospital. Pierce and Mordin were behind him, Pierce whispering to Mordin, "We're still up for the therapy, right?" Mordin nodded. Going to the hospital, the group encountered some light resistance from Bloodpack mercs, mainly vorcha and a few krogan here and there, even had a few pairs of klixen, insect-like enemies that could breath fire. However, with Mordin's STG skills, Aaron's powers and Pierce's… Pierciness, they managed to persevere, entering the hospital. Descending a flight of stairs into the hospital, the group encountered a peculiar sight- a dead human in ragged clothing.
"What the… why's a human here?" Aaron asked.
Mordin crouched down to the body, scanning it with his omni-tool. "Human. Male. Heavy injection points along main arteries and signs of heavy experimentation. -Breath- genetic experiments"
"So what does that tell us?" Pierce wondered.
"Krogan running experiments, based on genetic level can only conclude to them try to cure genophage, likely why they kidnapped Maelon in the first place"
"What, they're… making him try to make a cure?" Aaron guessed.
"Logical, was student of one of the main developers, taught him almost everything I know, who a better candidate? -Breath- likely being forced to do this. To be honest, means of experimentation acceptable. Need to stop him"
"Mordin, is a cure for the krogan really a bad thing? I mean c'mon man, they've gone through enough"
The salarian made a tsking sound. "Can't, too risky. Simulations when developing virus showed krogan would not be ready at this stage"
"Well what about you approving what happened to this dude?"
The salarians eyes widened in shock. "Would never test on organic being like this! Results always sloppy, in-precise! Have killed many people in my life in many ways, gunfire, knives, drugs, tech attacks, once with farming equipment-"
"Huh?"
"-but not with medicine. Have basic rule, never experiment on species able to do calculus. Simple rule, never broke it… this is -breath- unacceptable"
"…So, you really hate what they're doing?"
"…Would like to stop it, yes"
"Than let's go" Aaron said, pointing down the hall. Going down it, the trio entered a big room, a ramp leading up to a railway and hallway above. Unfortunately for them three krogan, two in black armor and one in white armor, walked out of it and stared down at them, a few vorcha going down the ramp and aiming their rifles at them. The krogan in white armor stared down at them. "Why have you come here!" he bellowed.
"…So are you that Guld guy we've been hearing so much about?" Pierce asked.
The krogan chuckled. "No, simply a carrier of messages. A message that I am here to relay: leave this place now, or die" he said simply.
"Naaaah" Aaron drawled out, waving a hand dismissively.
The krogan's eyes widened in rage. "Who do you think you are!?"
"The dude that's going to get Maelon" Aaron said simply.
"Ha!" the krogan barked. "Your not going anywhere with him! It's because of him the the krogan will re-ascend to the greatness they once had!" the next five minutes was spent when the krogan went on a rant about the krogan and how great they would be once the genophage was cured, meanwhile Aaron had formed his O.M.G. into a sniper rifle and, for whatever reason, was lining a shot up with the wall to the right of them.
"The krogan will revel in the destruction of the salarians who cursed us, dining on the eggs of their young as a delicacy!" the krogan continued. Mordin's eyes widened slightly at that.
"Uh-huh, yeah, that's- that's real neat, man. Just let me… okay, so the angle is right, and if it hit there…" Aaron mumbled, pointing his finger in random directions.
"Aaron, what are you doing?" Pierce asked.
"This" it was at this simple word Aaron fired the sniper rifle, the bullet ricocheting off the walls, all the heads in the room following it, the bullet making a 'ping' sound everytime it hit something. After twenty pings it hit a object under the krogan that went on a rant.
"Damn, missed!" Aaron shouted in rage, throwing his sniper rifle to the ground.
"Ha! You see, the humans cannot even aim right. The krogan-" the ranter was cut off as he heard a hissing noise, and looked under him to see the object the bullet hit was a fuel tank. Before he could utter a word, it exploded, burning him and the other two krogan alive, their screams dying down as they hit the ground and passed on.
Aaron's eyes widened behind his glasses. "Oh! Um… well that works to I guess. Why was that even there anyways?" as he was talking to himself the vorcha aimed their rifles at him, but Mordin and Pierce went back-to-back, Mordin shooting all the vorcha on the left and Pierce killing the ones on the right. Impressed, Aaron looked at the two. "Wow. Um, that was pretty neat"
"Your just saying that because you missed" Pierce pointed out.
"Well yeah but- the bullet hit the- oh fuck you Pierce" continuing on, the trio ascended into a hallway. Turning a corner, they saw two things: what looked like an entrance into a lab, an a locked door. With a quick swipe of his omni-tool, Mordin opened the locked door, a krogan in dark green armor sitting down on the floor.
"Um… hello?" Aaron greeted, waving awkwardly. The krogan looked up.
"Who… are you?" he rasped.
"I'm just… a guy, who are you?"
The krogan closed his eyes. "I… used to be a scout… for Urdnot… but, they caught me, did horrible experiments on me… but it's for a good cause! They said they're going to cure the genophage!"
Aaron sighed mentally. They couldn't carry on like this all day, they had a mission to do. "Look, you need to get out of here, we're bringing this place down"
The scout's eyes opened in shock. "What? Why!? Why would you destroy our only hope for the cure!?"
"Look. you really want to know?" Aaron asked, squatting down so he could be at eye-level with the krogan. "Time to put my poker face on" he thought. "Guld only plans to use the cure for his own people, not the entire krogan race"
"What? But… but they said…"
"What they said were lies. Now, you got two options. You can either stay here and die, or, you can be a real badass and get out of here despite being severely wounded. The choice is yours"
"I'm… I'm getting out of here! And I'm going to the female camps!"
"You do that big guy! That's weird, but I don't judge!"
Roaring, the krogan got up and charged through the doorway, making his way out of the hospital. Aaron got up, looking at his two sqadmates. "Well that worked" Pierce remarked.
"Yeah, surprisingly" making their way to the lab, they saw multiple dead bodies under sheets, with a few terminals still active. Mordin went to one and sighed when he read the data.
"Analysis surprising, making more headway with cure than Ii originally anticipated. -Breath- disturbing"
"Is that necessarily a bad thing?" wordlessly, Mording made his way over to another terminal, this one in front of a krogan body with a sheet on it.
"Krogan, female. Scans show multiple injection points. She didn't survive whatever treatment they gave her" he put a hand on the corpse. "Sleep well, young one. May your soul rest"
"Wait, since when are you religious?" Pierce asked.
"Never was religious, indulged myself with it after my work on the genophage. Helped… forget things. -Breath- created modified strain because it was needed, not because I wanted it" nodding, Aaron gestured for them to continue on. The next area consisted of multiple levels, with a ramp leading down. Unfortunately, the room was also filled with Bloodpack. Getting to work, Mordin got set with killing a few vorcha, with Pierce killing a krogan that had a pack of varren. Aaron for his part was setting as many people on fire as possible, as to burn them and to sedate their healing factors. making their way down, and after a consistent wave of Bloodpack, they saw a krogan in bulky, silver armor with red lights with helmet yelling at a krogan in standard Bloodpack armor.
"I don't care! There are three of them! You will kill them or else!"
"Y-yes, Gu-" the rest of what the soldier was going to say was cut of as his head exploded. The silver krogan looked to see Aaron on the other side of the bridge, Pierce and Mordin taking care of the rest of the Bloodpack.
"Fool! Do you realize who I am!? I am Weyrloc Guld!" brandishing a claymore shotgun, he fired at Aaron, only for dark eezo to arc along his body and a shield to be projected, rendering the shot harmless.
"And I'm Aaron. And you have made me a very pissed off man" he growled.
Above, Pierce looked down after finishing off the last of the Bloodpack and scowled. "Well that ain't good" he said.
"What?" Mordin asked.
"Aaron. He's not telling no jokes or nothing, he's all serious. Which is bad"
"Aaron becoming sensible is bad?"
"He only gets like that when he's seriously mad. I guess those experiments back there count as mad"
Guld was furious. Who did this human think he was? tossing his shotgun aside, he flared his hands out, a warp appearing in each on. "I don't need a gun to stop you!" he roared, throwing the two warps. He smirked behind his helmet, thinking it was over, when to his shock Aaron caught the two warps in each hand. "No! How is that… unless… you! You're the demon they speak of, the one they call Aaron!"
"Jesus, you are slow at naming faces, aren't you?" Aaron asked, combining the two purple warp balls into a bigger one by mashing and fusing them together. "You know, I saw some pretty messed up stuff back there. I assume your in charge of it?"
"What would you know!? You know nothing of our plight!"
"Maybe not, but if I was in your boots I wouldn't stoop that low for a cure" Aaron said, the large ball, to everyone's surprise, instead of turning black and blue, just turned solid blue, the ball growing bigger. "Of course, in a few seconds your going to be nothing but boots"
"Hah! You think showmanship will be enough to best me!?" the battlemaster taunted.
"This isn't showmanship. This… is wrath" the ball now was as big as Aaron's upper torso, the ball rolling to the tip of his right index finger. Pointing it at Guld, Aaron hissed, "Goodbye, Guld"
With that, the ball left his finger, the tip glowing brightly blue as it left a black trail as big as the ball, resembling a large laser as it engulfed Guld, going through the wall behind him. Aaron, having enough, dismissed the dark eezo, the lighting disappearing and the laser leaving. the only thing that was left of Guld was his two feet, the only things not touched by the laser, along with a perfect, large, circular hold in the wall behind him, cutting all the way through the hospital and even cutting structures behind it. Aaron hummed and looked at his hand, tilting his head to the side. "Huh. That's a new one" he muttered. he turned around, Mordin and Pierce standing there.
"Man, when your pissed your awesome" Pierce remarked, staring at Aaron's hand in awe.
"Yeah. Guess those experiments pushed me over the edge. Hmm…" he looked at his hand. "I dub thee new power… what do you guys think of the 'dark stream'?"
"Can discuss classification of abnormal powers later, must get to Maelon" Mordin interjected, pointing ahead.
In a shoddy hospital room, a salarian was hard at work at typing on large holograms on the wall, miniature omni-tools being on each hand. While he was working he heard a voice behind him. "Maelon" it said. He turned around in shock, knowing that voice, only to be faced with his old teacher, flanked by to humans he had never seen before.
"Teacher!? What are you doing here!?" he asked in shock.
Mordin for his part was wide-eyed. "How are you unharmed, no physical wounds present, yet working readily on cure, suggests drugs or mind control at work yet all faculties remain in control -breath- suggests working for krogan willingly"
"What!? you mean we came to rescue this douche when he didn't need it!?" Pierce shouted.
"Uh Pierce, there's also the fact he's experimenting on live people. And I think Mordin may be a little pissed" Aaron pointed out.
Maelon continued on. "Oh, the great Mordin Solus, finally seeing his long lost student. Yes, I was working with the krogan for a cure" he admitted.
"What are you saying? The kidnapping, the torture, unethical experiments, your doing!?" Mording asked in shock.
"Yes! All in a effort to cure the krogan! What we did to them was wrong professor, I was just trying to right that wrong! You always taught that the end justified the means!"
"Never taught you this. Never told you to do this" Mordin darkly muttered.
"So, you killed all those people for a cure? Wasn't there another way?" Aaron asked.
"No! No other way! We did the wrong thing, and I needed to get the cure as fast as possible!"
"Simulations were clear, genophage necessary to keep krogan as a on-going species!" Mordin was shouting at this point, hitting his hands together to emphasize the point.
"Look, Maelon, we're gonna have to take you in for this. These experiments, while they're for a good cause, they're wrong"
"No! I'm not going!" Maelon shouted, pulling a pistol out and aiming it back and forth between them. "My hands are already bloody! I'm going to get more if it means saving them! You can't-" he was cut off as Mordin, infuriated with his students words, punched him, causing Maelon to stumble through the hologram and pressed against the wall, Mordin pinning him there with a arm and holding a pistol to his head.
"Professor!" Maelon said in shock, eyeing the gun.
"Not my student. Not my work. Have to correct it. Have to kill you" Mordin said darkly. Maelon was shaking now, eyeing the gun and whimpering slightly. Aaron stepped up.
"Mordin, don't do this. Your consciousness has suffered enough, killing him won't undo his work"
"He could continue work, start fresh, anew. Can't let that happen"
"Mordin, look at him. I don't think he'll try doing this again. Mostly because I know you'll be keeping tabs on him and if he does try it again we'll stop him. Again" Mordin debated this, than mentally sighed, releasing his former student.
"Go. Leave. Never come back" Mordin instructed, pointing to the entrance of the lab.
"Is this how you repay me for my dedication? What am I to do now, professor?" Maelon asked in spite.
"Try opening a clinic. Builds character" the doctor said simply, still pointing to the opening. Maelon, giving up, ran away. Mumbling to himself, Mordin went over to the holograms to review Maelon's data.
"So, what's on it?" Pierce asked.
"Appears Maelon did make small breakthrough's, not full cure but if one ever were to be designed could be jumpstart cure. Should be destroyed, to dangerous to exist, yet… -breath- of cure ever was decided to be developed… could help immensely"
"Mordin…" Aaron put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, you obviously regret what you did to the krogan, a scientist doesn't seek spiritual help for no reason. And you have enough moral in your soul to have listened to me and spare Maelon. So do your consciousness some good, keep the data and help krogan"
"But means of getting data, too many died…"
"Deleting the data would even be a bigger waste, they would have died for nothing. I don't approve of the experimentation, I really don't, but what's done is done. At least if you keep it they'll have died for something"
"Your… your right, Aaron. Thank you" with this, Mordin downloaded the data into his omni-tool, than sweeped it over the hologram. "Keep data a secret, keep it with me. Deleting data here, don't want it to be used to reverse cure if one ever is made"
"You okay?"
"Fine, Aaron. Concern is not necessary. Still shocked with how Maelon turned out, but… -breath- can cope. Salarians don't linger on these matters, in our biology, shock will likely wear off in few hours, will put this all behind me then"
"Well good to see you won't be traumatized by this" Aaron deadpanned. Mordin flashed a smile as the hologram was disabled.
Pierce gestured to the entrance. "So, can we leave now, because I have a therapy session with you and-" he was cut off as he heard Maelon's voice, not far away.
"Who are you- wait, what are you doing!? Please, don't kill m-" the rest of what Maelon was going to say was interrupted with a gunshot, his body being flung back into the lab.
"Maelon!" Mordin said in shock, rushing over to his body. Hearing footsteps, Aaron glanced over to see a asari in purple armor walk in, two smg's attatched to her back. The most dangerous aspect however, from Aaron's view, was the wrinkles on her face. No doubt from her old age, she was a matriarch.
"Who the hell are you?" Aaron asked, bringing his lazor razor out.
"Who I am is of no concern" the asari said, no emotion in her voice. "If you must know, however, I am Delena. A Council spectre"
"Oh, well that's explains everything" Aaron said in a exasperated voice. "How did you find us?"
"I didn't come here for you, I came for Maelon. If a assistant to a famous STG geneticist goes missing on Tuchanka, the Salarian Councilor and Dalatrass would likely send someone of my caliber to make sure something like a genophage cure isn't developed, we keep tabs on all agents"
"So you came here to stop Maelon… and I just happened to be here, is that right?"
"Correct. And I am sure that the Council will be pleased in me bringing you back, and one of your cohorts" she said, gesturing to Pierce.
"Alright, it's a sound plan, with one crucial flaw. Your alone, and while you may be a powerful biotic due to you being a matriarch, I doubt you can stop me"
"While your view is wise, it is flawed. My Mother and Father used to work in element zero mines, and as such I was heavily exposed to it due to the mine being extremely abundant in the resource. The result is me being a extremely rare biotic which has near perfect control while at the same time immense power" saying this, she flared her hands. Purple biotic energy literally exploded from her, rushing in waves around her body. The force of the displayed power was enough to make the trio step back, and pushing Maelon's body forward. "Just so you know, I heard your conversation. I will not let you leave with that data"
"Aaron, what do we do?" Pierce asked, aiming his rifle at the asari.
"Asari has proven to be extremely adept at biotics, force enough to cause physical disturbance! Problematic!"
To prove this point, the asari raised her hand in the air, a purple longsword being made from the biotic energy.
Wordlessly, Aaron stepped up to her. Dark eezo arced along his body as the lazor razor turned to black with a blue outline. A blue ball appeared at his finger, about the size of a golfball. raising it to the ceiling, he fired a miniature dark stream at the ceiling, creating a hole. Aaron leaped through it, landing at the ceiling of the hospital, a wide area of about a block or two big. The biotic used her biotics to float out of the hole, being on the other side of it. Pointing his katana at her, he looked down the hole where Mordin and Pierce were.
"Get out of here, the is way out of your league. You can watch from the tomkah, but you better hurry. 'Cause this bitch is mine"
A/N- And we leave off here, with a epic fight approcheth! Sorry Maelon died, but Mordin didn't do it, it was the asari. So there. Anyway, I'm sorry if a bunch of the dialog for these mission aren't exactly like the game, I have to to most of this by memory, but remember this: There are new characters, with different responses to situations, which would invoke different conversations coming from Mass Effect characters, okay? Kinda like a ripple effect, a single word makes a different conversation. Ripple Effect... dang, I should have called my story that, it's got a ring to it. Ah well, to late!
Also I'd like to address that a few of you wanted a explanation why Shepard was turning evil, a few of you guys saying that Cerberus might have put that control chip in him. To that I would like to say NOPE, they didn't, I admit it sounds a lot like they did, but they didn't. I have a legitimate reason, but I'm not gonna say if for awhile. Rest assured it'll be explained before we hit the collector base, but exactly when I ain't saying.
So to recap, next chapter we got a story from Tali, a fight scene against Aaron and Delena (seriously how the Council didn't know a ex-STG member was developing a cure on Tuchanka is beyond me) and also (I came up with the name Delena on the spot, so if I'm accidentally stealing that from someone else's story I'm sorry! Same with other custom characters I may or may not have named. If your that mad PM me and I'll edit the story to change the names. I'm not saying that's happened, I'm just saying if it does) and after that we're going to Pragia! Maybe. With all these loyalty mission I forgot if we did or not... I'll look back, but hopefully I didn't, cause than I can add a little extra somthin' somethin'. And after that we can finally hit the derelict reaper! And after that more loyalty missions! So yeah, yay...
And on a final note, I'll give a shoutout to whoever guesses the the small videogame refrence I made in the next chapter! I swear to god if no-one gets that forty-seven refrence...
Anyway, it's 11:20 where I am, I'm tired, and I'm out. I'll Start the next chapter tomorrow. Cya!
