PURGATORY
Miranda's office was directly below the science labs, where Mordin was researching the cure for the Collector paralysis toxin. Inside was a desk, and a bed. Damn, she flies light. I guess she has to, to make up for the mass of her boobs. Cole's lecherous thoughts helped to distract him from a very real problem. If he was emitting Ray Field Energy, what about the Radiation? Would a plague strike down humanity- hell, what about the other species he'd been in contact with?
As Cole entered, Miranda stopped typing up an entirely faked report to the Illusive Man.
"Hello, Cole. What can I do for you?" Miranda's salacious wink did not help Cole drag his mind out of the gutter.
"Miranda, when they used the Ray Sphere on me, the Ray Field Energy in the room would have had nowhere to go, am I correct?"
She nodded. She wondered when he'd come to see her about this.
"So, I am pretty much an RFE emitter right now. What happened to the Radiation, what about the Plague?"
"Ah, I thought you'd come sooner or later. Wilson didn't know anything about it, he didn't really want to think about it to be honest. Our scientists built in an absorption technique for the Radiation, and threw it into the nearest sun. Rest assured, no more Plagues, no more rampant Beasts. I take it the Commander is a Conduit, then?"
"Wha- How'd you know? I thought you didn't know how to define a Conduit by their genes yet?"
Miranda smirked. Guys always thought with something slightly more South than their brains sometimes. "She was ill, showing the exact same symptoms you did while in Empire City Hospital. I did my research, don't you worry. If what I know is true, then it'll take something in her surrounding environment to turn her into a proper Conduit. She hasn't been… Primed, yet. The RFE should have died down by now, but it obviously hasn't. I wonder…."
Could Subject Bolt- Cole MacGrath- be generating and emitting the energy himself? It was possible, as were most things when Conduits were involved.
"Cole, I reckon that you're generating the RFE yourself. It should have worn out in a couple of days after your waking up. Three, max… I think that the Conduit sub-species will make a rather large come-back. I just hope that the Galaxy is ready for them when they do."
Well, Cole supposed he got what he came for, and a lot more besides. So, Yara was going to be a Conduit, eh? He wondered what kind.
As the Lightning Man made his way across the Crew Quarters to the Med-bay, he briefly wondered what kind of powers his favourite violent woman could possess.
The Blue Suns Prison Ship Purgatory slowly orbited the local star, Osun, in the Hourglass Nebula, Galactic South. The white walls shone with reflected sunlight, belying the darkest of sentient life held within. The Normandy SR-2 dropped out of FTL, and swiftly banked towards the Prison Ship. Jeff 'Joker' Moreau steered the ship into an expert glide into a docking bay, as Yara, Cole and Garrus got ready to head off-ship. Yara was clad in her brand-new Reckoner-Knight Armour, seemingly gliding around testing the micro-servos.
Due to this being a strictly non-combat mission, Cole was dressed in his typical Conduit getup- his yellow and black leather jacket, black khakis, and two-toed shoes. He did, however, go in for the typical piece of intimidating weaponry- an M-920 Cain and a Blood Pack Executioner Pistol. Vakarian was decked out in Turian Black-Ops Armour, made of the lightest, strongest material short of starship armour. His reliable M-92 Mantis had finally been replaced with the new Black Widow sniper, and a simple yet proven N7 Valkyrie. All illegally modified to provide maximum punch, minimum recoil, and maximum capacity. Cole had installed batteries in each, to provide his special 'super mass-effect' effect.
Not that he expected this to be a combat mission. Just… a bit of intimidation could go a long way. If this was a mercenary Prison Ship, why would they let the most well-known human- short of no-one- out of their clutches? A ransom on Yara could pay off any bounty, anywhere. Cole just hoped they didn't try anything.
Yara held her hand to her ear. Through her helmet, Cole could faintly hear Joker saying the docking platform was fully engaged.
"Right, Garrus, Cole, we are here to get 'Jack', and get out. Under no circumstances surrender your weap- COLE! You can't take a Cain! If you shoot that thing, the entire station will implode! Put it back!"
Cole pouted. "No fair! Garrus has a gun that can pop the windows! I wanna blow shit up! Pleeeeease?" He tried the puppy-dog eyes, but, apparently, being an Alliance soldier her entire life had hardened her heart. He'd have to see about that.
Cole went back to the Weapon Bench, and put the heavy weapon back. Instead, he took the M-12 Locust, and made sure it had Ultralight Material Upgrades, a bigger clip, and a stability dampener. He hated recoil throwing off aim. Replacing the Cain, he decided a Collector Assault Rifle could still intimidate.
Returning to the group, he mock-saluted Yara, and gestured for her to proceed out the airlock. Garrus was not pleased.
A group of three mercs greeted the trio. A turian and two humans. Funny. The turian was obviously relishing having power over the other two, if their tense postures was anything to go by. They all held M-8 Avengers. Cheap fare, for mercs… Skeleton crew, must be.
"Greetings Commander Shepard. I'm afraid I have to ask you to leave your weapons here. This is a secure station, after all."
The turian's under-vocals were wavering something fierce- he was scared shitless Yara would just cap him in the head. Poor sod. She just might.
"I think not, Captain. I already died once. I'm not doing so again because of a prison riot, or anything else for that matter. Tell the Warden we have business with each other, or get out of my way. I'm not in the mood to kill everything in my way. Cole might be, though."
Classic good-cop bad-cop. Like it!
Cole grinned as sadistically as possible, letting out his inner Demon- the one who'd laid waste to Kessler, The Beast and Bertrand III. His eyes flashed a deep, blood red, and his skin paled, showing off sickly black veins lying prominent around his face and neck. The turian fainted, as the two humans realised who this was, standing right in front of them! They saluted Cole- a fist in the air, a fist on their chests- and stepped aside.
Cole re-sealed his Demon inside, and kicked the turian's spurs as he strode past behind Yara.
Garrus was pretty creeped out. He knew the basics, but hadn't seen Cole in action. The man could be scary as all shit when he wanted to be. He could feel everything becoming cold for a second, until the captain fainted. What was that?
"Uh- MacGrath, not to sound scared… But what the hell? Are you even human?"
"Haha! Yeah, I'm human. Just… Post-human. A Conduit. I have powers, and those powers are affected by my… Karmic State. My choices for good or evil. In my life, I've found out that no matter how 'Angelic' my actions, there has always been a 'Demon' inside of me. I released a small amount of control, just to make a point. I didn't know that turians were so… easily scared."
Cole grinned, blunting the blow.
"There's a myth, back on Palaven, Cole. About a turian with blood-red eyes, and white carapace. He used to drink the blood of those who'd sinned against the Spirits. I'd guess he was a sinner. And that he believed the stories, too. C'mon. Yara's walking too fast."
The two caught up, slightly the better for that. Cole knew he'd have something over every turian he saw, now. If he needed it.
The Commander paced into out-processing to find it empty, and the desks in a curiously… barricaded fashion.
"What's going on here?!"
A voice over the intercom resounded through the concrete room.
"I'm sorry, Commander Shepard, but you're worth more to me as a prisoner than Cerberus' funds. Lay down your weapons, and you're sidekicks get to go free. They obviously haven't come here ready to fight!"
Garrus' mandibles flittered a little at that- he was always, always ready to fight. He slept with his sniper, for God's sakes! That, and turians had claws sharper than most chef's knives. The Commander- petite, soft-fleshed and curvy human that she was- drew her gun and shot the nearest officer in the face.
"Like hell we will! Hoo-Rah!"
Cole grinned. It was gonna be a massacre, and this time, there were no innocents!
Racing down a burning corridor, Yara, Garrus and Cole chased after a very illusive Subject Zero, or 'Jack', as the Dossier called her. Up until the cryo-cell came out of storage, they'd been under the impression that Jack was a man. Well, Jack was a woman, and one with little to no 'assets' and only a leather harness covering the bare necessities. She could run faster than the trio could, thanks to the criminal's biotics. The sheer amount of Blue Suns mercenaries that were throwing themselves at the three was astounding. The prisoners were worse. No weapons, they attempted to rape, torture or kill the three just for being there. They had been launched out of cryostasis too fast, and this had destroyed their minds. That, and they were all the worst of the worst to start with.
Jack was on her way to a shuttle pod, Cole was sure. If she made it there before they could reach her, then Cole could always drain the entire station, like he did with the Lazarus Station. It would, however, be a bit hard to explain away in case someone found out.
Around a corner, and the end was a dead-end. Even in the future, they still had pointless pieces of architecture. Jack was standing with her back against the wall, looking like a cornered dog. She knew she was trapped, and the bulkhead behind lead straight to the frigid wastes of space. She'd die before she knew it if she blew it open.
"Jack! We didn't come here to kill you! We came here to save you! Recruit you for a mission we're doing. We… need your help, Jack. Please. Can we talk?" The Commander managed to get her soft tone to carry the twenty feet to Subject Zero, who stopped searching for a non-existent way out, and peered suspiciously at her.
"What do you mean, kill me? As if you could! You do anything here, and this wall blows! Weapons down, or I Warp this wall!"
The girl was trying to bluff her way out. Marvellous. Next she'd say she could fly. The Commander let the threat fly by, but lowered her rifle. Cole could freeze her or something if she made a rash decision.
"Look. We came here to get you out. Not as a slave, but as part of a specialist team. And, by all accounts, you're the most brutal, belligerent biotic in the galactic disc. We need heavy firepower, and you're part of it. Please. My name is Commander Shepard, I'm working with Cerberus to research missing human colonies. That, and take down the Collectors. I can promise a lot of fighting, killing and a lot of weirdness. You in?"
Cole was surprised she told Jack about Cerberus so soon- purportedly, Jack had grown up in a Cerberus cell. Cole stared at the woman mere feet away- tattooed, stretched ears, pierced skin, she could've been any disadvantaged teenager the galaxy over. But, she was the most powerful human biotic alive. Even more powerful than Miranda when absolutely pissed and horny. Which was a scary combination. Jack relaxed her combat-ready stance just in time for the prisoners to find them.
Whirling around, Cole shot off two Hellfire Rockets that raged down the corridor, and set ablaze every organic at the end. Seven men and a woman writhed screaming, patting at the napalm-like substance dripping from them like acid. It only took another Scythe Bolt to clear the deck, and they were in the quiet again.
"Let me get this straight, man. You can electrocute people at any time, and you have fire and ice powers that combine with that? How the fuck does that even work? You got a battery on you somewhere?"
Jack looked pointedly at Cole's crotch.
"Nope. I am a battery. And with Purgatory's energy now running through my veins, I reckon I've got some new powers. I'll test 'em out in the hold, when we get back. Speaking of- Yara, any idea of ETA?"
"Nada. Joker has to shake off the Blue Suns fighters first."
"Well, tell him to bring them over here. I'll give them a shock!"
Two minutes later, the glow of the Normandy's engines emerged from around the far side of the prison ship, with five Kodiak shuttles tailing it. There were scores of shots missing the Normandy, searing holes into the station itself. Cole sat outside the airlock, sticking to the hull by magnetism.
As Joker raced by, Cole built up a charge between his hands. In one, he held an Ice Bolt, sizzling with barely restrained energy, and in the other, a Fire Shot, crackling with napalm waiting to explode. In space, it would make one hell of a BOOM! As Cole melded the two shots together, the fighters saw an easy target. Swerving towards him, they formed a line of gunships ready to blow him into deep space.
At the last possible moment, Cole swept his hands out, now drenched in the Ice/ Fire combo shot, in a wide arc. The sharp ice shards that formed broke through the hulls of the gunships, whilst the napalm incinerated everything inside before they could depressurise. The resulting implosion of the mass effect cores of the shuttles and the icy heat caused a wave of light that seared itself into Jack's watching eyes.
That man was powerful, certainly more powerful than anyone she had ever seen. Probably even more powerful than her, in his own way. If she stayed with them, things were sure to be fun!
Back on the Normandy, Jack sat at the crew table talking things over with the Commander.
"… So I grew up in a Cerberus facility, where they ran experiments on us, to see who would be the strongest. I came out on top. When the Alliance rescued me in a roundabout way, they said they'd look after me. Instead, they gave me to an orphanage that persecuted me because of my biotics. How do you expect me to believe that you'd watch my back if I said yes?"
Yara wasn't too surprised that Jack had been bullied due to her biotics- most kids didn't show it until they were at least well into their teens. Plus, kids were downright nasty little bastards when they wanted to be.
"I don't expect you to believe me. Trust comes with time and experience. I have experience with kids that are rude little boogers, picking on anything they perceive as 'different'. But that's kids. What did you do to earn your stay on Purgatory Station?"
"I… crashed a space station into a hanar moon. I was under the influence, and acting on the orders of my cult's leader. Hence the shaved head. Turns out, he just wanted me outta the way, and didn't expect me to survive. I was imprisoned because of my psychotic outlook, instead of executed by the drell guarding the moon."
"Oh."
Well, she seemed slightly contrite, if not guilty about the carnage that must've caused. Maybe she'd change. Maybe.
"Ok, well, Jack, we are putting together a team of specialists to take down the Collectors. We've looked into the human colonies going missing across the galaxy, and in the process, we've come across quite a lot of heavy resistance. I think we need your help, in – well - killing. There's no pay, but we have Cerberus funding to get what we want and need. The Illusive Man has promised to erase your criminal record, and set things straight with 'Subject Zero'."
For a moment, Jack's eyes glowed violet, reflecting the power of her biotics.
"Don't call me that. Ever. I could tear this entire ship to shreds in seconds, and you wouldn't-"
"You wouldn't get halfway through the thought before I fried your synapses, Jack."
Cole stood behind the 24 year-old, running his white lightning over his arms. Shaking off the sparks, he stepped around the table, and sat next to Yara.
"We don't know you, Jack. We don't know what offends you, what pleases you, what kinds of food you eat or makeup you use. If we do something that offends your or otherwise affects you, damn well tell us. But if you think for a minute that I'm going to allow you to threaten anyone on this ship- especially the Commander, then you've got another thing coming your way. Another 50,000 volts. Are we clear?"
Cole's non-threatening stance said everything. He was ready for anything she did. Could probably take it, too. Jack sat back, and placed her hands in her lap. She looked him straight in the eye and said, "I can only try, right?"
Jack had immediately retreated to the darkest, loudest place in the ship that wasn't filled with people- Engineering. The rumbling of the drive core, and the lack of light made it perfect for her- no one would come walking by.
Cole and Yara stood at the Galaxy Map in the CIC, running over the next Dossier. The Warlord. A krogan scientist who'd fought in the Krogan Rebellions who was encamped with Blue Suns mercenaries on Korlus. He'd supposedly had contact with the Collectors about technology that could overcome the genophage, which would be useful in finding out where they were. It would be the perfect chance to see how Jack reacted to working in the field, and especially as they didn't expect any shortage of killing to be done, it was right up her street.
"We'll need to get her some armour, probably something lightweight and manoeuvrable- you saw the way she danced about on Purgatory," Cole said.
"Yeah, but she'd still need some protection- maybe use one of your special shields, instead of a normal one?" Yara replied.
"Yeah, that could work…"
The two continued discussing the logistics as Joker flew onwards through the stars on the way to Korlus.