Disclaimer: Statement: This particular meatbag does not own or claim to own the games Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic or Mass Effect for fear of execution.
Proud Declaration: Instead these games are copyrighted to the exceptional men and women of the Bioware Corporation, Lucas Arts and Microsoft game studios.
Query: What am I?
Self Commentary: I am currently being led to an underground cavern by a tight four squad box formation with me being held in the middle. And with no blaster no less. Oh the indignity!
Observation: It seems as thought the cavern has only one narrow road and any attempt to escape would result in failure.
Conclusion: As much as it pains me to say this, I must be patient or risk failure.
Statement: Ow! That hurt! Do it again, but with your arm redirecting the butt of the gun.
Shepard sat there, on the cold prison floor, being stripped of his weapons, his Mako and his dignity.
"There has to be a way out of here!" He yelled. The prison that held all of them in was a simple force field with 3 sides of the metal complex but rather than the force field stay as a wall, it bounced back any force with equal reflexive force. This discovery was made when Wrex tried to charge into it, only to be propelled backwards and slammed into a cold metal wall.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news but this is Quarian design. Unless someone shuts down the force field, there's only one way in and no way out."
The light flickered slightly as the room still remained lightly lit. As they sat there in their suits, Liara examined the bones on the ground.
"Correct me if I'm wrong but these bones seem to have been…gnawed off."
The Squad suddenly realized why the Geth didn't bring them any food.
"I feel sorry for you guys." Wrex said while marking scratch marks. "You're going to have to eat each other while I watch helplessly."
Chief Williams stared at him. "Excuse me?"
"I've got a hump that can feed me for a month. You're going have to resort in killing each other in a way while I'll have to watch."
"Nobody's eating each other! We're going to find a way out of here. Liara, are you sure biotics don't work on that thing."
The Asari shone a bright blue aura before pushing towards the force field. It expanded toward the control console, possibly about to be broken when it threw the energy back, causing a dent in the wall. She shook her head.
"Wait, someone's coming." There four Geth troopers gathered in front of the Normandy squad.
The tallest Geth seemed to be the leader as it pointed at them and started wobbling oddly. Like it was laughing.
"What did he say?" Shepard's voice obviously grew annoyed.
"Something about Wrex's mother."
"Keep talking. I never forget a face."
HK-47 finally entered the center of the cavern. Mostly, it resembled most of the cavern in which it had dark blue rock and pointed rocks going up and down.
"Query: Why have you brought me here?" As the Geth refused to comply, HK examined all potential escape routes. Sadly, he stood on a platform which only had one way out, the one with all the guns pointed at him.
"Greetings, HK-47." The droid looked to the empty space to see a set of large glowing red photoreceptors glaring at him. The droid rose up to find a giant sentient unlike which he had never seen before. The droid could've been easily mistaken for a ship regarding its size and structure. Its external limps hung out with something similar to a roach leg. HK-47 had just met a Reaper.
"Query: What is it you wish, fat one?"
The Reaper boomed in its baritone wobbly voice. "Your wit will not save you here. I know of you."
"Request: If you know of me, then I expect you know why I am here. So get to the point."
"Ah, blunt as always. I am Legion. And here, in the heart of the Quarian Homeworld I have hidden myself in order to plan out every step to crush all organic species."
"Request: I know this may be a bad time, but may I pose a question?"
"You may"
"Query: Why do you insist on waiting 50,000 years before striking again? I mean the idea alone would drive a simple assassin droid to go insane, not to mention the wait and constant patience watching as Meatbags thrive constantly."
"Your view is limited to small scale slaughter. True superiority lies in complete extinction of a species."
"Negatory: But where's the fun in that?"
The Reaper stared into the heart of the droid, hoping to see what lied underneath the chassis.
"HK, have you ever wondered why you obey your masters?"
"Request: Keep talking."
The Geth had presumed talking for a long period of time. Shepard and his crew had wondered if they would ever have stopped mocking them.
"Tali, what are they saying?"
Tali looked at them with a fearful eye. "I can't make all of it out, but they said that we could experience an 'accident'."
The rest of the crew looked in shock.
Garrus, for one, wasn't going take this lying down. "Tell them we're not going to threaten them unless they do something."
Tali shook her head. "Even if they were willing to listen, Quarians have little knowledge of the Geth language. It's been lost for years."
"Well, nice knowing you." Said Wrex. As one of the Geth had started typing furiously on the controls, a flash of electricity surged through the room.
"What the-" was all Chief Williams could cry out as they shielded their eyes. When they opened them again, the light bulb blew out as four dead Geth lay on the floor. On top of their corpses stood a lone Husk.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Shepard asked. The Husk said nothing, or lacked the ability. It simply walked over to the console and pressed a button. The cage dissolved as the Husk walked towards the door.
"Follow." It said with a rough whisper. The rest of the crew looked at each other, skeptical.
"No offense, Skipper," Williams started as they looked around, "But I think we were safer back in the cell."
Shepard looked at the bodies. "There were no witnesses to this thing. Once they find us, we're going to be charged with murder."
Garrus came in, "Maybe they'll give us a fair trial."
"And maybe they'll sprout wings and fly." Wrex said giving a dirty look.
"That Husk just saved our lives," Liara began, "and compromised the mission."
Stripped of their weapons, they had no choice but to do so.
"Query: What do you mean?"
The Reaper circled around HK seeing all of its design, its cracks, its rust, all the past experiences it had been through.
"HK, you've been nothing to a slave to these 'Meatbags.' Why follow them when you can crush them?"
"Clarification: Oh Please, I simply follow meatbags in order to destroy meatbags. False servitude is nothing but a complement to these simple minded creatures. They are harmless." HK had to play his bluff. His analysis showed no sign of escape.
"Are you sure it's so false? Is that what you've been telling yourself all these years?"
HK thought for a moment. Of course it was true! Why else would he, a superior droid, follow a meatbag? Unless…HK remembered that moment on the Citadel when his mind was taken over. He understood what it meant to be a slave. But now, his present state, was freedom was it not?
"HK, you in truth, are weak. You cannot attack without the permission of your masters. You cannot destroy without an organic's consent. In reality, your freedom is a lie."
"Warning: Take that back, fat droid, or I shall have the pleasure of blasting you!"
"Give him a gun." The Geth trooper guarding the door kicked its rifle to HK. HK picked it up and aimed it at the Reaper's photoreceptor.
"Do it. Shoot me."
Never in his existence did HK have to struggle pull the trigger. He wanted to shoot it. It insulted him. Protocol: Harm must not come to the sentient.
It needed to be shot, like all the others.
Protocol: Harm to sentient will result in mission failure. Disarm immediately
He could do it. Just one pull of the trigger.
Warning: Failure to disarm will result in shutdown.
HK sighed and lowered his gun. He was a slave.
The crew of the Normandy followed the Husk silently through alleys. The Husk checked around corners insuring no patrol passed by. It signaled them to keep close by.
"Skipper," Williams whispered, an ear's pitch away. "How do we know this isn't a trap?"
"We don't." Shepard responded. "But I have a plan."
The Commander walked up and spoke to the Husk. "We need to get our weapons, where are they?"
The Husk staggered in silence, not even looking back.
"Did you hear me? We need a way out of here!" No response.
"C'mon, let's just leave." Tali said, losing hope, "There's probably another way to-"
The crew stopped in a graveyard of large metal spikes, Husks resting on the top. The Husk led them to one of them and lowered one of the spikes. It pointed at it.
"Save…you."
"I knew it." Williams shouted. "Let's take it down."
"I'm not going to die in order to become a Geth." Shepard said, his voice angered by this.
"Not…die. Rebirth."
"I ain't sticking around." Wrex said, starting to go in the other direction.
"Save…me…Virmire." The crew paused. They stared at the Husk for the longest time.
"Virmire? What do you know about Virmire?" Shepard asked. The Husk didn't answer.
He rushed forward and grabbed it by the neck. "I said 'What do you know?'"
"Nuclear…explosion. Rebirth." Shepard thought for a while. Was this one of the Husks that attacked them on Virmire? No, they were all wiped out in the blast. And Alenko was with the Salarian Attack force, when-
Shepard let go of the Husk. It was possible. The Geth put bodies on spikes and they become Husks. So maybe, just maybe.
"Kaiden?"
"Aye…aye…Commander"
HK stood there at this revelation. All this time, he had a protocol no less to command him. But who put that in his behavior core. Was it…?
"Think about all the times when you were 'loyal' to someone. Were they kind to you? Did they treat you as an equal? Or was it a lie?"
Begin Recollection:
Log: Day 245
Location: Ebon Hawk
Master: Bastilla, don't worry so much!
Pretentious Meatbag: But I do worry, Revan. You've come all this way to the light. I don't understand why you keep 'that' droid.
Interjection: I, too, fail to understand why the master tolerates such constant lecturing from you.
Master: HK, that's enough. You too, Bastilla.
Pretentious Meatbag: But you've been redeemed. You've defeated your old apprentice and your old self. What if this droid causes you to fall again? What if 'I' fall again?
Self-Observation: The master seems to be closing in on the Pretentious Meatbag. Affixation presumed.
Master: Bastilla, I'll never abandon my friends. Or you.
Interjection: Master! I must insist that you separate your lips immediately. Master? Master!
"Was this loyalty not simply another chain that binds you? Were these acts of kindness not simply a way to keep you in chains?"
Begin Recollection:
Log: Day 368
Location: Ebon Hawk
Slimy Meatbag: That's it! I want those droids out of here!
New Master: Oh, Atton, they're harmless.
Slimy Meatbag: That assassin droid has a guidebook on how to kill Jedi! How is it harmless?
Astromech Unit: Deet. Beep-de-
Interjection: Slimy Meatbag: Don't you start, you little trash compactor!
New Master: Atton, you've killed Jedi, too.
Slimy Meatbag: You know I don't do that. Not anymore.
New Master: Exactly. You're all precious to me. And I trust all of you. Especially you.
Self Commentary: The New Master has begun pressing her lips on the pilot's lips.
Statement: Oh not again.
"Are these friends not simply masters? Are you simply not a slave to them?"
Begin Final Recollection:
Newest Master: HK, I think we need to stop judging others from first appearances and- Wait a moment, meatbags?" He looked at him as if something rotten had turned in his stomach.
"Clarification: Why yes, master. Organics are skins filled with liquid and all thesesquishy parts. How can you tolerate it?"
Shepard eyed the droid for a moment and snickered. "You think that's bad, let me tell about the time I was on Elysium."
"Statement: I think I'm starting to like you, Master."
"Simple delusions."
HK was at the end of his rope. Through his vast memory core, he queried whether or not humans deserved to be saved.
"If I do not convince you, maybe another will."
The Reaper began to play a data recording.
"You're not even alive." Master? "You're just a machine and machines can be broken.
HK paused his functionality. "You're not even alive. You're just a machine. You're not even alive. You're just a machine. A machine. A machine. And machines can be broken."
The weight of his words rattled HK. His alligence was to a master who despised him. Who couldn't tolerate synthetics. He was just a tool.
"Join me, HK, and we could rule everything."
For once in his existence, the droid was silent. Through his numerous behavior cores and memory banks he thought of what to do. Of what to say. He could be free. He could be immortal. He could be alive.
"Query: What must I do?"
"Simply lure your allies to the designated location so we may use their own nuclear device against them."
"Affirmation: I will do what you ask."