OKEER
Brief warning: Mild mentions of toture and rape, nothing graphic. Thank you for your time.
Jack made her way to the Shuttle Bay, wondering what she was doing on a mission already. They couldn't trust her enough already, surely? Of course, she wouldn't off them at the first chance, she wasn't like that. These people understood her, and they didn't care about what she'd done before they'd met her. They did, however, care about how Cerberus had treated her as a child.
The Shuttle Bay door snapped open, revealing crates upon crates of weapons, armour, ammo, and mods. A pirate's heaven in the best money could buy. Jack was almost pining for the N7 Piranha she could see sticking out of the top of a crate marked 'N7 gear', and drooled when she spotted the M-11 Suppressor hidden amongst the chaff-like M-3 Predators.
She looked towards where the Commander was standing next to the armour mo- they had an armour module! She hadn't been able to afford armour, barely having enough for food when she was briefly a pirate. God, I hope I can get something more protective than this harness… Jack thought.
Her eyes slid back to the Suppressor. Before her eyes had even focused on it, her hand had slipped it into her trouser belt.
"You wanna watch where you stick that gun, Jack, you might blow off something irreplaceable!"
Jack whirled around, fists glowing blue before she realised Cole was sitting atop a crate, casually drinking a carton of fresh orange juice.
Where the hell do they get their stuff from? I want some!
"Here." Cole threw her a fresh, rosy red apple as he leapt off of the three-metre tall crate. "We need to get you kitted out for the mission ahead. You've already got a pistol, but you may want some other weapons if you want. Choose one from the cra-"
Jack had already scrambled over to the N7 crate and yanked the N7 Piranha out, stroking the matte black barrel and drum magazine, seemingly worshipping the fastest fire rate on a shotgun since never. Next, she bolted over to the mods crate, and sunk her arm in to the armpit. She withdrew with a recoil damper and a smart choke in her clutches. She took one look at the pistol she'd filched, and stuck her arm back in. An ammo capacity mod and a cranial trauma system were swiftly attached, too. Cole, astounded at the child-like enthusiasm Jack was showing, backed off with his hands in the air. When girls like guns that much, he was sure a man wasn't needed.
"When you're ready, head over to Yara and the Armour Module."
Jack's dark eyes slid to Yara with an all-too-hungry expression on her high cheek-boned face.
The Commander was flicking through the armour suits and pieces she had on store, searching for something that would protect her from a charging krogan and an entire mercenary task force. Almost at a decision with N7 armour and a Breather Helmet, she suddenly had the feeling she was being watched. She glanced over her shoulder, coming lip-to-lip with Jack.
Frozen for a second, the two were both surprised at the lip lock. When Jack had been raped by the pirates she'd been picked up by, they hadn't been interested in making out. Jack had never felt anything as… nice, as this.
In a slightly mirrored fashion, Yara had never had any experience with men- or women. She'd never had the time. She'd enlisted in Alliance Military School before she was even interested in boys, at the age of sixteen. She put so much of herself into following her parents into the Alliance Navy, she never even stopped to think about what she was missing on the social side of things. Oh, sure, men showed their appreciation, in their own priggish ways, but she left well enough alone by breaking the fingers that touched. She didn't make it into the N7 Program by sleeping with the grunts, or anyone now that she thought about it.
The two separated in a mutual blush that made both appreciate the other. Cole was sitting on his crate enjoying the show, as any 21st Century man would.
"Uh- I- I'm sorry. I was just looking at the Armour Module. I didn't mean to-"
"I- I'm sorry I didn't know you were that close! I-"
They both stopped, fully comprehending the awkward situation. Finally, Yara started laughing. Confused, Jack looked at her as if she was crazy.
"I- Look, I came here for some armour, OK? Can you show me how to use this thing?"
With Jack finally decked out in a kinetic-protected bodysuit that the Illusive Man had given them- the Cerberus Spirit Armour, and with some minor armour plating over the shoulders, thighs and upper arms, Yara, Cole and Jack sat in the Kodiak waiting for lift off. Jack's over-powered gun selection was going to kick ass, Cole was sure.
"Right, just to make sure. We're here to extract a krogan scientist named Dr. Okeer. This could potentially be a rescue operation, an abduction, or an interrogation. The Blue Suns are here, although we don't know why. Cole, you'll be our long-range attack god- I mean, 'dog'- while Jack, you use your biotics to rip anything that comes within ten feet of us to shreds. I'll be picking off anything in between. We'll be going in hot, so jump out ASAP. Hoo-Rah!"
"Hoo-Rah!" The two chorused. Jack pondered something.
"Hey, Commander?"
"Yes Jack?"
"If we get to see the mercs' commanding officer, I'd like to… enquire, about some Suns mercs I knew as a kid. I've got a score to settle, y'know?"
"'Course. Y'know, if you've got a thing against mercs, you should talk to Garrus- Archangel as he's known on the Dossier. He's been killing Eclipse, Blood Pack and Blue Suns for the last two years."
Jack smiled slightly in return. "I may like to meet this 'Archangel' of yours, Shepard, he sounds like a blast!"
The Kodiak braked hard as it landed down on Korlus, Eagle Nebula, as the Commander, Jack and Cole leapt out of the shuttle. The first thing Shepard noticed was the distinct lack of enemies. That, and a very annoying loudspeaker.
"Being hired is merely the beginning. You must earn your place in the Blue Suns!"
That voice was going to get old real fast. Jack took one look around, spotted the loudspeaker, and popped off a suppressed shot, blowing it up. The resulting clang drew the attention of the mercenaries well enough. The speaker dropped on one's head, flattening it, while the rest started shouting obscenities.
The trio ran around the far corner, Shepard leading them, and began to engage what was obviously an outpost. Jack was grinning already in released bloodlust.
"Pick your shots, guys! Limited ammo from here on!" Cole nodded, while Jack started head-shotting mercs like it was going out of style. Two heavies and a grunt fell before Cole even raised his hand. A Lance seared a hole right through one's helmet, while Yara let loose with her Indra sniper rifle. In two seconds flat, the squad had been demolished.
Yara could tell that she'd have a hard time racking up a kill streak with these two on her side. Over the lip of the outpost was a human merc crying for his mummy. Daft sod had a graze from Cole's Lance.
"Shit! Won't stop bleeding. I'm gonna- I'm gonna… Sonofabitch." Cole could see the cauterised wound from three metres away, and the sod hadn't even checked his wound. Pussy.
"Suck it up, soldier. I've seen worse. Take your mates over there. One of them got a shot through the balls. How's it feel to have a chance of living?" The soldier carried on regardless, either not noticing or not caring about the people in front of him.
"I knew it wasn't berserkers. Not in range. You're mercs. Or Alliance. Not- I'm not telling you anything!"
Cole stepped forwards, allowing a small amount of lightning to flicker between his fingers.
"Oh? That's a shame. I was hoping I wouldn't need to fry your fingers and toes one by one… never mind. Jack. Get his boots."
"NO! Please! OK I'll speak just don't hurt me! I just shoot the overflow from the labs! The old krogan- he's really been cleaning house lately. Jedore hired him to make her an army of mindless clones. But they're insane. We use them for live ammo training! Please!"
Suddenly, the wounded man's radio crackled to life.
"Outpost Four, what's your situation? Jedore wants us to move. We need coordinates on that krogan pack."
"What's he talking about?" Yara shucked her Indra, and rested it over the man's kneecap. At this point-blank range, his knee would blow off for sure.
"I already said! Crazy-ass krogan clones for Jedore's private army! Please!"
"Answer. Tell them you can't find them. They're not here. Got it?"
"Uh, patrol? Last group… dispersed. Lost sight five minutes ago."
"Dispersed? Jedore will be pissed. She wanted a show…"
"You asked for a report, you got it. Dispersed."
"Understood. Returning to the labs."
Yara took her sniper away from his knee, resting it on her shoulder.
"There. That wasn't that hard, now was it? If you start walking now, you may just make it back before you 'bleed out'."
The fireteam left him collapsed on the dusty metal walkway, sobbing in heartfelt relief.
"God, I hate Heavies. Every time you step out of cover, they fill your face with a rocket. Whatever happened to common decency? Letting the saviour of mankind get the first shot? Huh?"
Yara and Jack had collapsed against the wall for the third time, in hysterical giggles while remembering Cole's latest stunt. Catching a rocket with his teeth. He'd been hanging from the balcony while taking potshots at the various Blue Suns mercs, when all five of them fired rockets at him at once.
OK, so it hadn't actually hurt him per se, but his pride had been taken down one too many notches.
Cole moodily slapped the door panel to green, and strode into the Warlord's lab.
"Here you are! I've watched your progress. How did a weakling human like you survive being hit by a rocket?"
Cole scowled at Jack and Yara, who were both trying to contain their laughter.
"Urgh. Never mind. It's about time. The batteries on these tanks will not wait while you play with these idiotic mercs."
Yara stepped forward, having controlled her convulsions of humour. For now.
"I take it you're Okeer? You don't seem too grateful that we're here, or particularly caged."
"You may claim to be here to help, but the formerly deceased Shepard is not a sign of gentle change." As he spoke, the krogan's teeth were revealed. And, with his heightened senses, Cole could smell a lot of undigested food. Possibly even rotting. "Surprised? All krogan should know you. I'm sure Rana has revisited your actions on Virmire."
"I didn't have a lot of room for finesse. If there was another solution, I'd have taken it." Yara's thoughts flashed back to the mindless krogan clones.
"But I approve. Saren's pale horde were not true krogan. Numbers alone cannot win a war! I gave the Blue Suns my rejects for her army, but she grows impatient; it's time for you to take me out of here. I have acquired the knowledge to create one pure soldier. With that, I will inflict upon the genophage the greatest insult an enemy can suffer- to be ignored."
The krogan was an impressive speaker. He gestured in grand waves of his hands, where others of his species would likely start shooting anyway. A nice change. Except for his fondness of long speeches.
"The Collector technology you are no doubt after was consumed in my prototype, but I only need one to start the process."
"I thought that the krogan ideal was to reach the numbers to threaten the galaxy?"
"No! We will not need the numbers! Not now. My soldier is a template. A greater threat than a thousand krogan, ten thousand of its phantom siblings that would have been at its flank. The galaxy still bears the scars of the horde. It feared the horde, but it will burn, and learn to fear the lance."
"So, you know how to dismantle a threat. Will you help us find the Collectors? Maybe even take them out?"
"Perhaps I can strike a deal to secure passage. But my prototype is not negotiable: it is the key to my legac-"
"ATTENTION! I have traced the krogan release. Okeer, of course. I'm calling 'blank slate' on this project. Gas these commandos and start over from Okeer's data. Flush the tanks!"
The Warlord rapidly started pushing buttons on his console, presumable trying to save as much of his data as possible. He got nearly halfway before gas started to vent into the room. He typed faster.
"Go. Hold her off. I will save my data, and make sure they cannot use it. I will store it on my omni-tool. If I die… take it. The prototype will need it. GO!" His thunderous voice rent the small lab, almost deafening the trio, due to their helmets' sound emulators.
Cole looked at the vents, thinking of a way to stop the venting. Acting on instinct, he started firing off Ice Shots at the grilles, watching as they sealed up. In the old ship's hold outside the observation window, the Blue Suns could be seen flushing out the tanks. What they didn't expect, was to have to deal with very pissed off krogan. That kept their attention off the air vents, which were allowing the backed-up lethal gases out into the air.
Captain Jedore tore through a rabid krogan as it reloaded its shotgun. She whipped around it, just in time to put a shot into the base of its spine, where its armour was weakest. Looking up from the collapsing monstrosity, she paled in fear. White wisps of vapour were pouring into the storage bay, and she stared as first one, then another, and then the rest of her troops began to fall. The krogan took slightly longer, thanks to their thrice-damned healing factor, but they too dropped to the rusted metal floor.
Seeing only one chance of survival, she began to run for the lab. They must have blocked the vent grilles somehow! She'd have to kill Okeer herself!
Running up the stairs, she placed one last salvo of shotgun pellets into the last krogan's face before running through the access door, and up the stairs.
While Cole was entertaining himself watching the fight going on below, and Jedore's progress therein, Okeer had finished backing up his data and wiping the system. He allowed EDI access after that to clean up anything he might have missed.
Handing the data drive to Yara, he calmly walked out of the door, dragging the pod with his prototype in behind him back to the waiting evac shuttle. Yara motioned for Jack to get one side of the door, and Cole the other. She hid herself behind some machinery, ready to lock down the doors once Jedore made her way in. They didn't have long to wait.
Blue Suns Captain Samantha Jedore came tearing up the staircase and barrelling into the lab room. Too late, she realised it was a trap. She span on her heel in time for Cole to send ice crawling underneath her. As she slipped, she loosed off two shots. One hit the Commander's shields, and the second went straight through, smacking into her shoulder hard enough to penetrate the mildly protective N7 equipment.
Cole quickly Arc restrained her, and retrieved her weapons, then went to treat the Commander to a good Pulse Heal.
"It's OK, Cole. I'm fine. That glandular medi-gel really works. I can barely feel it already. Let's get this over with, so I can get this bullet out of my armour."
As the two turned to collect Jedore, they saw Jack with her Piranha underneath the merc's chin.
"No! Jack, what're doing? Is this your way of getting information?"
"Hell yeah it is! This bitch was on Pragia when I was a kid. She was the one in charge of making sure I didn't escape. She could've saved me, but she didn't! She left me to torture and darkness!"
Jack had tear streaks running down her face, as she snarled out her anger. Yara understood her point, but she refused to allow her to make it this way. She needed to change Jack, make her a better person. But first, stop her from committing blue murder.
"Jedore, listen to me. You tell us where you got the tech for the krogan from, and I won't let Jack kill you. Tell us how to replicate the feats of Dr. Okeer, and we'll set you free. How about that?" While Yara was interrogating Jedore, Cole was explaining the deal to Jack- Jedore would die either way, and Jack would do it.
"I- I won't talk. You can't torture me, not without specialist tools. You can fuck off before I betray the Blue Suns!" Jedore spat, aiming at the Commander's face, but missing completely and ending up splattering her armour.
"Cole? If you would."
The Demon of Empire City strode forward, letting his mask slip a little. The black veins creeped up from his collar, and over his head. All Jedore could see skin-wise was his face, which held a maniacal rictus-like grin. This was going to be fun!
Jedore was the kind of merc who got where she was by not talking. Hence the burned hair and slightly melted flesh on her once-pretty face. Cole had let his Demon out to play, and he was having too much fun. He didn't even ask any questions for the first hour. He gently electrified her minor pain centres one by one, and then the major ones. After that, he heated up, and then rapidly cooled areas of skin until she couldn't feel them anymore. And then, once she was nearly delirious with pain, he began to ask questions. What was her name, did she have any family, how long had she been in the Blue Suns, how many people had she killed. What was her name, did she have any family, how long had she been in the Blue Suns, why was she on Pragia in a Cerberus base with Subject Zero. The same starts, with different tagged-on questions. Gradually breaking her down. It didn't even take three hours before she broke.
"I- I was on Pragia. I worked for Cerberus back then, as a hireling. I shepherded the children, made friends with them. Broke their trust. We then broke with the Illusive Man's orders by turning her into a killing machine. Pitting her against the other kids, instead of making them a cohesive fighting unit. I- I raped and tortured all of them. I was only trying to make them stronger! I put them in the freezer room, and then in outside in the rainforest. I did everything I could to make them stronger. Jack had it worst. The other kids hated her because she was stronger than them. Because I didn't rape her. Because I showed her favouritism when they were around. I'm glad I made her stron-"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Jack had let loose with her Piranha, shredding her body into unrecognisable scraps of meat in only five shots. Must've had something to do with that shredder mod installed. The poor girl stood there, chest heaving, her biotics flaring as she struggled to control her reignited bloodlust. This time, killing hadn't had the euphoric effect on her, just an addictive one. Having taken Red Sand before she knew the feeling of addiction.
Seeing the girl's internal struggles, Yara took her into her arms and hugged her tight. The skinny girl's tensed muscles tensed even more, and then relaxed. Jack hugged someone back for the first time, in return for her first ever true hug. She rested her shaved head on Yara's shoulder, and cried out her childhood, her mess of a life. She was determined not to let Jedore's meddling ruin her anymore.