Author's Note:
In this chapter, I came to realize once more that writing action scenes is freaking hard! I base fight dynamics on the ME multiplayer (which is fun by the way. If you haven't tried it yet, I can only recommend it.), most of the time. There will be tiny inaccuracies - it's not always possible to transfer in-game mechanics 1:1 into a story (cool down times, how shields and barriers work, medigel that brings the wounded back from the death, things like that). So please don't be confused if you remember things slightly different from playing the game.
Arek dashed out of the office. Half through the foyer, the door to the stairway was smashed open. A shockwave hit the Cerberus trooper's chest and threw him back where he came from.
"It's a biotic!" somebody shouted from further downstairs through the angry yells.
"And there's enough for all of you babes!" Arek shouted, grinning as he pictured how a group of troopers was knocked off their feet and pushed down the stairs. A gun fired, missing his head by several inches. Before they could recover their aim, Arek jumped behind one of the desks, taking cover. The next figure jogged through the door, and was greeted like his colleague.
"At least try to make it a challenge!" He fired a third, a weaker shockwave without aiming at anything in particular; just a little thing for show. He heard voices and footsteps, but nobody came closer. This wasn't a good sign, but if they took a moment to change their strategy they helped Arek buying the extra time Mojo needed.
A shape moved behind the door frame, and Arek shot the next shockwave – the attacker didn't fell over, but opened gunfire from behind his wide shield.
"Fucking guardians." Glancing over his cover, he focused on the air behind the now two guardians, conjuring a singularity field. It worked – it pulled them away from their shields. As soon as they left the torsos of the guards uncovered, Arek fired another shockwave.
But his attack had cost him valuable seconds – three troopers ducked and rolled from behind the guardians over the floor, escaping the field's gravitational pull. Arek began to form another shockwave, but broke off. His vision was becoming blurry from attacking too many times in a short time; if he kept this speed up, he risked fainting for a weak result.
He grabbed his submachine gun and fired. Two of the troopers fell, the third was taken out by a hearty smash against his head with a chair when he came to close.
Arek had no time to convince himself that the trooper was dead, or at least knocked out for a longer while – the next group stormed inside the room. A lamp flickered to the next to the door. The elevator!
"Fuck... Mojo, do you hear me? How much longer do you-" Shots pierced through the desk. Arek rolled back, and pressed himself against the wall, avoiding the deadly salve by a whisker. He had recovered enough to take out two more troopers and to relieve another guardian from his shield.
The elevator opened.
"Oh no, not you freaks. Sorry, guys, I'm not into whipping." He grabbed the chair a second time and hurled it towards two dragoons before they could jump at him with their biotic lashes. The valuable second was enough for him to place another singularity in front of them. Their armor was too heavy for the field to pull them off their feet, but for a moment, their movement was slowed down.
Arek backed away, and leaped behind the second desk.
He threw a volley of weakened shockwaves through the room. His head began to hurt. Sweat formed on his temples and down his spine, but he had no choice. He had to push back long enough for Mojo to finish, until then, he had to hold his position. Firing his gun allowed him to recover from the strain of producing biotic attacks, the next array of shockwaves allowed the smg to cool down before it overheated. There was no time to change the thermal clip.
"Fuck off, space ninja!" He jumped up, grabbed the computer and threw it at the phantom. The slender, wiry figure dodged the blunt attack. Arek could have sworn he heard her giggle. He stepped back, ducking to evade the shots at him. His attack missed her, and fizzled out when it hit the shield of the next guard.
He reached for his gun. A sharp pain cut across his upper legs; before he could fire, he lost his balance. Falling on his back he dropped the smg, and when the white flashes cleared from his vision, the phantom was standing above him, her sword raised.
She halted – her body was twitching.
Then, her head was jerked back when a shot pierced through her forehead. The sword fell to the floor, and the phantom crashed down next to it.
"Move!" A second shot hit a dragoon square in the chest, drilling through the armor. A hand grabbed Arek by his arm and dragged him up.
"Damn, I was never so happy to see you!" Arek laughed, more stumbling than running after Mojo back into the office while shots were whizzing past their heads.
"Less talking, more moving!" Mojo pulled him through the office door, hit the lock's interface, and it fell shut. Arek let himself fall against the door with his back, gasping for air. His legs were still hurting from the dragoon's attack. The lash had cut through the fabric of his suit and scorched his skin.
"Any secret passage out of here?" he panted, shrinking away from the door when it was hit with blunt force from the other side. The turian walked across the room, and finally halted in front of the wide window.
"Are you powered out?" Mojo asked, staring outside. The weather had changed. The sky was hidden behind thick, dark clouds. Snow whirled through the air, a thick, wide wall blocking the view. The storm was howling.
"Nah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me." Arek smiled, taking a deep breath. The faint headache would go away soon if he didn't overdo it now, which meant, if they find another way out beside fighting their way through a Cerberus army.
"I don't worry about you. I need you to do your job."
"Great, and for a moment I thought you were for once caring about a team mate. What the hell are you doing?!" He watched in alarm as Mojo returned to the desk and picked up the heavy office chair.
"Getting us out of here!" With that, he hurled the chair against the window. The glass didn't shatter, but a long crack shot across its surface.
"We can't jump down there! We'll break our necks!" But the turian ignored him, picked up the chair, and threw it a second time. The crack widened. Arek looked from the window to Mojo, and finally, to the coffee table standing by the couch. A broken neck, or being torn to pieces by Cerberus. Or taken prisoner, which sounded even less appealing. Well, helping Mojo was better than standing around and doing nothing. He hurried over to the table, kneeling down to grab it by one of its legs.
"You do not move an inch!"
Arek flinched when Mojo's threatening voice thundered into his ear. The turian suddenly stood by his side and shoved him away from the table, and lifted it himself. Arek was pushed off his balance the second time within the last minutes and fell onto the couch.
"You'll break our fall with one of your magic tricks! Use the time to recover for that!"
"A biotic sphere?! Mojo, I suck at those!" Arek shouted over the sound of the table banging against the window. "I'm trained for biotic attacks, not defence!"
"Take the chance to broaden your horizon." This time the table crashed through the glass. Mojo gave a laugh of triumph and strode back to Arek. It had become suspiciously quiet behind the office door. The attacks had stopped for the moment, and it was only a matter of time until reinforcements arrived, either in form of a hacker, or more plain force.
"That's suicide, Mojo!" Arek pushed himself closer against the back of the couch. "I can create a weak sphere for a second or two, enough for one person to soften a short fall or a light crash. But not for the two of us jumping from the upper floor of a building! I'll get us killed!" He tried to roll away, but Mojo seized him by his wrist and pulled Arek with him.
"Don't waste your breath. You can hold more than a dozen of Cerberus vermin at bay, but you want to tell me you can't focus on a stupid sphere when it counts? Pull yourself together and get ready!" They were standing in front of the window. Snow was blown inside, and the cold wind soothed the burn on Arek's legs. He stared outside, not daring to look down. Noveria had disappeared behind the snowstorm, if there was a wall in front of him, or rocks right beneath them to fall on if they took one step further, Arek wouldn't know.
Mojo's arm wrapped around him. So the turian was serious about this, and unless Arek attacked him, there was no way he could escape this crazy plan.
"Maybe if I create it as late as possible..." He glanced down, and all he saw was snow being hurled against the wall. He took a step back, but Mojo's firm grip held him back from retreating. "Fuck, when is as late as possible, I can't fucking see a fucking thing!" His arm slipped around Mojo's thin waist. And you guys are so fucking slim... Please don't break to pieces, okay? He gave a jerk when he heard shouts coming from the foyer. Somebody meddled with the door. They were running out of time.
"Everything that doesn't kill us is good enough, Turner."
"And if it kills us?"
"Then we've lost nothing. Doubt those guys want to invite us over for tea. Hold tight and focus!" Without a further warning, Mojo jumped.
The cold hit Arek hard, pressing the air out of his lungs. He forced himself to breath, and to keep his eyes open. They were falling, and if they crashed, they wouldn't be able to soften the fall by rolling, unless they let go of each other. Yet, he was clinging to the turian, feeling the sharp hips and the plating of his armor pressing through his light suit.
He had no choice. Holding his breath, he focused on his mind. For his attacks, he had to gather the element zero energy inside of him and release it over his hand before its concentrated ripped him apart. Quick, short, and powerful, and equally quick to replenish. A protective sphere though...
In his mind, he wandered through his own body, wakening and drawing the dormant energy from his cells. He was shaking as the implant in his brain amplified the powerful eezo. He could release a weak field now, but it would dissolve within a second if he didn't take care to stabilize it.
He pushed the energy out of his body, his mind following, expanding the fragile sphere until he felt it was closing around him and the turian. His heart was beating against his ribcage, and his throat was dry as he struggled not only to keep the field up, but to enforce it.
It wasn't enough to let them float, but it kept them in the air for a short moment before it burst after touching the ground, shortening their fall to less than two meters instead of two or three floors.
They crashed into the snow, Arek landing on top of Mojo.
"Heavens, are you okay? Are you alive? Geez, please be alive!" Arek hurried to wipe the snow from Mojo's visor and started to pull at his helmet. A hand shot up and grabbed his wrist.
"Alive and kicking – you if you don't get off and let me get up!" Mojo growled, but Arek was certain to catch the sound of a subdued chuckle. Grinning, he rolled over and stood up, offering his hand. Mojo took it, and let Arek help him up.
"We really did it!" Laughing, Arek looked up. He couldn't see far enough to see the window from where they were standing. "I did it! Ha! Guess you could say I saved the day!" His laughter grew louder along with the storm in his skull. As he was staring upwards, the dancing snowflakes began to spin, whirling around in a hypnotizing vortex that threatened to engulf him.
"The day's not over," Mojo chuckled, catching Arek when he fainted. "But yeah, we're not dead. I'll mention that to our dear leader so she can praise you."
Cold. Cold, cold, cold. And why the hell was his alarm slapping and shaking him?
"Wake up, Turner!"
"You again," Arek groaned, huddling himself deeper into his mattress. "Thought about my suggestion?"
"I changed my mind. Keep sleeping." The shaking stopped. "Fucking storm. Can't see a thing," the voice grumbled, moving away from him.
"Storm?" Why should there be a storm in his bedroom, and who the hell had tempered with the thermostat? Arek opened his eyes, confused that he had slept with his mask on. Above him, there was nothing but snow falling down on him.
"Oh!" He sat up, brushing the snow off his arms. Everything was coming back to him. Their hike through the snow, breaking into the base. Cerberus attacking. The jump out of the window, the biotic sphere...
"Welcome back." Mojo stared through the scope of his rifle, then, with a sigh, he lowered the weapon and turned towards Arek. "Are you okay?"
"Yes. Thanks!" Take this, Thea! Mojo asking me if I'm okay beats him thanking you!
Although, 'okay' was still rather euphemistic. The good quality of his implants didn't save him from a migraine after releasing his complete eezo reserves. His body felt strangely empty, and although the tingling in his veins told him that his cells were already recovering, he would need a while longer before his biotics were back to their full power. A bit more rest, and his body would survive the intense use of them.
Yet, he was alive, nothing seemed broken, the pain in his legs was gone – cooled to the point of being numb.
"Unless you push us off a cliff as our next step, I guess we'll survive." He stretched his arms and his legs, and began kneading his hands to keep the blood circulating. "How long was I out cold?"
"Five minutes or so." Mojo was back on watch, trying his best to scan the area through his scope despite the snow. "Fuck this."
"I'm sorry, if I hadn't passed out we'd be out of here by now."
"Forget about it. With this weather, my omni-tool not fully functioning and a powerless biotic we wouldn't have gone far anyway." With a growl, he slid back behind the cover – an overground pipe transporting hot steam from the depths of the planet. "On the bright side, the weather should also make it difficult for them to find us."
"Hope so. Give me another minute or two, and I'll be fit enough to defend us when we make a run for it. Have you contacted the others?" Arek checked his own tool, expecting it to blink with an incoming call or message, but there was nothing.
"Tried to, but either mine isn't back to business, or the signal is jammed."
"Wouldn't surprise me, if not by Cerberus, then by the weather." Arek tried in vain to connect with their official and their private com channel. "What happened to your omni-tool this time? Damage from the fall?"
"No. I shocked the phantom you were cuddling with. Best way to lower their shields before shooting them. These fragile N7 omni-tools they give us infiltrators are damn useless. Melt too easily."
"Ah! Yeah, you saved my life back there! I haven't thanked you for that yet, right?" He laughed, blinking against the pain in his head. "You know, I slowly start to think that you aren't that bad after all." He closed his eyes and waited for his brain to calm down.
"Don't get any ideas. I needed a biotic to get out of that mess."
"You're really digging this hard-to-get-act, don't you?" You are aware that this kind of behavior gets some people only more interested, aren't you?
"I'm not acting anything."
"Come on, don't tell me you still dislike me that much." An assumption he wouldn't make if he wasn't sure about it. They were miles away from liking each other, Arek figured, but speaking for himself, he had to admit that Mojo was annoying. Irritating. More skilful than Arek had expected, and indeed interesting. In a train-wreck way, yes, but still interesting. 'Dislike' or 'hate' didn't cut it anymore, and if his insight into human nature didn't betray him – or was somewhat fitting for turians as well – then the change was mutual. Someone only needed more time than others to sort it out.
"While we're at it," he continued, dissatisfied with Mojo's silence and determined to not drop the topic so fast, "I never got why the hell you disliked me that much in the first place!"
"This is hardly the time and place to discuss the magic of friendship, Turner." There it returned, the harsh sneer, the belittling tone. Arek failed to be impressed by Mojo's attitude this time, but had to admit, there was some truth to the words.
"Point taken. So, here's the deal. If we manage to get out of here alive, you'll explain it to me once we're back, patched up, and warm!" Fine, he didn't mind postponing the matter, but he wanted an answer, if not now, then later.
"If you insist," Mojo replied in a tone that might as well have meant 'if you think you'll survive', and shrugged.
"Should also give you enough time to think about my offer. I still think we should just fuck." He'd have paid money to see Mojo's face behind the helmet. He saw the changes in the turian's pose – the sudden tension, his hands fidgeting over the rifle he was still holding.
"Spirits, Turner, do you ever know when to stop it?" Mojo turned away, lifting the viper and studying the snowstorm through his scope.
"If you agree you could find out. But I warn you." He grinned behind his mask, shoving himself a bit closer to the turian. "Stamina is one of my many strong points."
"You... I... shut up. Just shut up, for the Spirits' sake!"
"I'm sorry. Don't think I'm desperate and trying to harass you. It's just... It's funny to break through your cool for once." Arek laughed, and moved away from him, restoring the space between them.
"Hilarious." He raised his hand, cutting Arek's next remark off. "Did you hear that?"
"No?" He chocked down his laughter when Mojo didn't reply. He followed the turian's example and opened the scanner of his omni-tool, but all he received was distorted, grizzly noise, with the symbols jumping all over the place. He deactivated the scanner and listened.
From not too far away, he heard thunder rolling. No, not thunder, the dull thuds were too regular for that. Regular, heavy, and uncomfortably familiar.