A/N: Been on one hell of a roll here. So I decided to update really quickly today.
I own nothing
It had come to my attention that the briefing room was starting to get a little...smaller. With the new additions to our team it started to feel a little more crowded, but we all managed to get it to work.
After being debriefed on the mission, Liara melded with Shepard to try and make sense of the Prothean message in her head. But the main thing I was focused on was the arrival of Heller, Dana and Amaya. If there were to be more than just them, who else should I be expecting?
I was brought out of my thoughts when I head Shepard speak again. "So, Heller. How did you and the others wind up in the digsite where Liara was located?" Heller shrugged from his spot leaning on the far wall. "Can't remember much. All I remember is a bright flash and I wound up here."
"What about your abilities? There haven't been any recordings of powers like that." said Kaidan. Heller seemed to look of into the distance for a moment. "Gott'em because of a motherfucker named Alex Mercer. He was a walking virus that infected me with whatever he had. I have his powers...and gutted the fuck outta him with them."
Everyone glanced at each other for a second. "Jumping dimensions, sounds a little far fetched if you ask me." said Garrus. Shepard cast me a glance. I looked to the others who all agreed.
"It's more common than you think." I said getting everyone's attention. I stood up, "I say this, because me, Kat and Emile are from another universe. Soap, Price and Yuri are from another." "Your kidding right?" asked Ashley.
I rolled my eyes before walking to the front of the room, bringing up my omni-tool in the process. A large screen appeared, "Prophet, access memories." The screen had several codes of data running through, "Scanning...Memories located...Distortion detected..." "Prophet?" wondered Liara.
"Prophet is a sentient VI interface built into the nano suit. Modeled after the first person to wear it." I explained. "What happened to the first guy?" asked Wrex. "He killed himself." I said bluntly making everyone wide eyed.
"Memories accessed...stand by..." There was static for a second, than an image appeared.
X General POV X
"Doctor we're losing him!" "I'm doing what I can! We've never put the augmentations into someone older than 15!" "Just do it. Akerson won't be happy if he's dead..."
X
Xero stepped out of the Warthog and made his way to the Commander center where his new team was waiting. Kat's arm reached out and stopped him as he entered the room, "Commander." Carter turned from the terminal he was at, "This must be our new number Six."
"Kat, you read his file?" asked Emile. "Only what wasn't covered in black ink." she replied. Carter regarded him, "Just remember leutenant, we don't do that lone wolf stuff out here. We work as a team got it?" "Yes sir." Xero replied.
Carter nodded, "Good. I'm Noble One. Kat, Noble two. Emile and Jorge, Four and Five. Your with me Noble Six."
X
The team assembled in the control room where they found the bodies of the workers. Xero knelt down and flipped a body over revealing a memory unit. "I'll take that leutenant. Out of your field." said Kat snatching it up.
They all heard yelling and saw Jorge bringing a young woman into the room, "Found a survivor. Hay!" He grabbed her gently by the shoulders, "Calm down. We're not gonna hurt you." She calmed and everything started to settle down.
Xero caught movement, "Contact!" Three Zelot class Elites dropped into the room and attacked. Xero was knocked off his feet. He reached for his dropped rifle, but was grabbed and yanked up to face an Elite who roared in his face.
A fist lashed out punching the alien hard in the face making him drop Xero. Quickly grabbing his weapon, Xero aimed at the Elites, one who had grabbed a Marine and was holding an energy sword to his throat.
There was a stand off. The Elites slowly backed out of the room with their hostage. "Five, Six! Find those bastards and take them out!" ordered Carter.
X
Xero fought his way through the Covenant Corvette. A squad of Marines stuck with him as they made their way to the bridge. "Sir! The bridge should be just up-" the Marine was silenced when a needle shard was pierced through his skull.
They stormed the bridge, guns firing on anything that moved. Xero raised his DMR and blew the brains of a nearby Elite across the terminal he was working at. Jackel's with energy shields opened fire, but were gunned down by the combined efforts of the Marines.
The ship Captain roared and opened fire with his plasma repeater. Xero ran forward, his shield depleting quickly from the barrage of plasma rounds. He lept into the air and slammed down on the Elite driving it to the floor. The alien roared in defiance.
Xero drew his knife and drove it into it's neck. With a good twist, the Captain died with his crew.
X
Xero stood in the Corvette's cargo area with Jorge after the surviving Marines evacuated. "The timer on the bomb was disabled." said Jorge taking his helmet off. "What are we gonna do? The only way to set it off is-" "Manually." Jorge finished dropping his helmet onto the floor.
"Jorge, no man. You can't!" Jorge ripped off his dog tags and put them in Xero's hand. "Remember kid. Spartans never die, their just missing in action." He grabbed Xero by the front of his armor and carried him to the energy barrier of the cargo hold, "Good luck down there kid." without another word, Jorge threw Xero through the barrier and out into space.
He could only watch as the Corvette traveled up to the Covenant Capital ship. A moment later it imploded in a large ball of energy, leaving the Capital ship sliced in half at the middle.
"Dammit Jorge..." Xero said to himself as he drifted toward Reach's atmosphere. "Warning! Slipspace rupture detected!" Xero looked to the other side of the planet and saw another capital ship appear. "Warning! Slipspace rupture detected!" Another one appeared next to the first."Warning! Slipspace rupture detected!""Warning! Slipspace rupture detected!""Warning! Slipspace rupture detected!""Warning! Slipspace rupture detected!""Warning! Slipspace rupture detected!""Warning! Slipspace rupture detected!""Warning! Slipspace rupture detected!""Warning! Slipspace rupture detected!"
Xero's eyes widened in horror as the Covenant fleet kept growing and growing. "Dear god..."
X
The pelican flew toward their next objective. Their left engine had been hit and was sending out a trail of smoke and fire as they made their approach.
Xero stepped up to the cockpit and saw Carter's helmet rolling on the floor. Noble's leader was in the pilot seat with a bad wound on his right side. "Shit. We got Scarabs crawling everywhere." He looked at Xero. "You, Kat and Emile will have to go in. I'll keep them off your backs."
"Are you sure sir?" asked Xero. The pelican shook as another round struck them. "No time! Just go!" Xero grabbed his weapons and stood by the open ramp with Kat and Emile. When the dropship was close enough to the ground, they jumped out.
X
The team of three made their way to the ship yard down a narrow path. The ground shook, up above them a Scarab appeared with it's guns charging. "Shit! Get down!" shouted Emile.
They dove into cover as the heavy beam hit the rock wall, turning it into a heated sheet of glass. "How are we going to get past it?" shouted Xero. "I got this Six." said Carter over the comms.
The damaged pelican came into view and was on a collision course with the Scarab. "Carter!" shouted Kat. "Good luck Noble team. It's been an honor." The pelican crashed into the Scarab and exploded. The heavy tank wavered and collapsed before exploding as well.
The three survivors of Noble team could only stare at where their leader once was. "We have to keep moving." said Xero, his voice sounding tired and hollow.
X
Xero stood facing the fully loaded pelican. The MAC gun that Emile was using kept firing, keeping the Phantoms away so the exchange could be made.
"Her she is." Xero said handing Cortana's container over to Captain Keyes. "Come with us Spartan. You and the other's can make it too." said the Captain. Xero looked up at the MAC gun and saw Kat standing next to it. Emile kept shooting into the distance. He knew what was to come...
"Sorry sir, but it's too risky. Me and the others will keep the Covenant off your backs." said Xero drawing his assault rifle. Keyes nodded saddly, "Good luck Spartan."
As the ship flew away, Xero readied himself for the coming assault.
X
Xero smashed in the head of a Brute with it's own hammer when he saw the Captial ship making it's approach. "Emile! If that ship reaches us the Autumn is fucked!" "I know Six I'm working on it!" Another Phantom exploded from a MAC round.
When the Capital ship was close enough to fire it's weapon, they acted. "Alright you split chin bastards. Eat this!" Emile fired a round directly into the ship's excavation cannon. The large ship shook and it's underbelly exploded as the weapon was taken offline.
Moments later, the Autumn lifted into the air and flew toward the atmosphere. "They made it." Xero said with a sigh. "What do we do now?" asked Emile, powering down the MAC gun. Xero slapped a new magazine into his assault rifle, "Survive."
X
(A/N: This memory is basically Xero's dream from two chapters ago. So look back on that if you wanna read it again.)
X Xero's POV X
Everyone was in shocked silence. Couldn't blame them. Dispite the fact that my projected memories were chopped up, the statement was as clear as a dying star.
"Holy shit." said Garrus. "What happened to the civilians? The rest of the military?" asked Ashley. "Only a handful of ships made it off of Reach. The rest..." Kat let her words hang in the air. "And to think, that was just Reach." said Emile.
I sighed, "Dozens of colony's were destroyed. Turned into useless balls of glass. Billions lost. The Covenant was ruthless. The date then was 2552." Shepard looked like she had been through a million wars in the span of a few minutes. "That wasn't the only war torn dimension you've been through...was it?" she said making everyone gasp a little.
"Yeah." I said looking at the screen. "Continue Prophet."
The screen lit up showing a scrambled image. An african-american man with a bald head covered with bloody tears appeared. "Listen...I don't know who you are, or where you and your friend's came from. But all I know is that the people in this city need you."
It showed the man removing my damaged MJOLNIR armor and replacing it with with the nano suit. "The Ceph...they're here. Find Gould, there you will find your answers." The imaged showed me fully in the nano suit. Kat and Emile laying unconsious nearby.
The screen showed the man's face again. "This is all I can do. It's up to you now." He raised a pistol to the side of his head. "Good luck." a gunshot went off and the screen went black.
"That was Prophet, the same one the VI is based after." I said snapping everyone out of it. "The battlefield was an Earth city, New York City. The date was 2027."
"And I thought NYZ was a fucked up place." Muttered Heller.
"What are the Ceph?" asked Kaidan. I turned back to the screen as my memories came back up. "Your going to find out."
X
My mind was blank as I slowly stripped the nano suit off. After spending another two hours in the briefing room showing the other's the events that occurred in the Crysis universe, Shepard had said that was more than enough to convince everyone.
No one could believe all that me and the others had to endure. But to be honest, they seemed in awe at what we were capable of in a heavy combat situation.
I shook my head as I took the last of the armor off leaving me in the white undersuit that stuck to my skin. This was always a pain. Have you ever peeled off a dead layer of skin? It kinda feels like that when taking the nano suit's underlayer off.
Getting the upperhalf off, I heard the door open and a gasp.
X Tali's POV X
I really had no idea what I was to expect. I was on my way to Xero's room to talk to him. After watching his past memories and all that he had been through, I now knew why his eyes shown such conflict.
What he had been through must have been horrible. Keelah...so many dying around him. Watching his teammates getting killed while he was powerless to do anything. I couldn't understand how he was able to take it all without breaking.
Looking up, I saw I was at the door to his quarters. I felt the suddent urge to turn around and head back to the elevator. But I steeled my resolve and opened the door.
I gasped. Xero stood in the center of the room, the upperhalf of a skin tight suit hanging from his waist. But what caught my attention were the scars. His back and chest were literally covered in them!
They criss-crossed over his pale skin in horrendous patterns. Small indents were seen in a few places which must have been bullets. Among them all were a few large blotches of grey on his skin. One that covered his left shoulder, and another on the lower part on his right side.
"Tali?" I saw snapped out of my thoughts when I heard him speak. Looking from the scars to his face I saw him smiling, "Is there something you need?"
I felt my heart beat a little faster, "Um, I was...just coming to see if you...wanted to talk?" Dammit! Why am I studdering!
Xero gave a light laugh, "Sure Tali, just let me get dressed first." When he started to take off the rest of the suit I spun around and had a huge blush on my face. I had never been in the same room with some one who was...like that!
know you want to. I shook my head trying to chase the subconsious thoughts away. You felt his body after he saved you. I started to think of the muscles I felt under his clothes. Tone. Rock solid. And those eyes...DAMMIT TALI FOCUS!
I sighed. He's a friend, and that's it. But it isn't what you want. You want him...all of him.
A hand landed on my shoulder and I lept several feet. "Whoa Tali! Easy, it's just me." Xero said chuckling. "S-Sorry. I-I just got lost in thought for a moment." He shrugged, "It's okay. I often find myself doing the same."
He walked over to the bed and sat down, "You wanted to talk?" I took a deep breath and sat down next to him. "I...I wanted to know how you were." Xero gave me an odd look before realization dawned on him. "Your talking about my memories."
I nodded, "It was...Keelah, it was horrible. So many people. And you...throwing yourself right into the fight to save them." I couldn't seem to find anymore words after that. "Tali." I looked up and saw him starring at the floor. Bosht'et! You made him upset! I mentally screamed at myself.
He turned to me and gave a small smile, "It was what I was trained to do. For the good of humanity against the Covenant. The Ceph were easy in comparison, but were just as formidable."
"Aren't you afraid?" I asked. "Of death?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, "No. If I could save the innocent, nothing else matters." I couldn't believe it. Despite everything he had been through, he would still put himself infront of the bullets for those around him.
He stood up and picked up a stachel pack off of the desk and came back. Opening it, he spilled the contents. Among them was a badly damaged helmet, a set of dog tags, a pistol, and a small pendant on a chain.
"These are some things that I've kept with me when we jumped dimensions." he said picking up the helmet, "My MJOLNIR helmet. The rest of my armor was trashed, but I kept the helmet to help me remember what I fought for on Reach."
He picked up the tags, and I recognized them from his memories. "Jorge's tags." He nodded setting them aside and picking up the pistol that had the slide on the top locked back. "NOVA pistol. The same one that Prophet killed himself with after giving me the suit. Thought I'd keep it to remember his sacrifice."
He picked up the pendent, "When we were in Price, Soap and Yuri's dimension, we were given a mission to save the Russian President's daughter. She gave this to me." I didn't know what to say. What could I say? Sitting next to me was someone who had gone through three seperate wars and came out alive. I couldn't help but feel in awe.
After putting his momentos away he leaned back against the wall on his bed. "I was gonna watch a vid. Want to join me?" I felt my body heat up. "S-Sure. I'm not needed in engineering for a few hours anyway."
Xero activated his omni-tool and started the movie, which turned out to be something from the 21st century called 'Saving Private Ryan'. It was very interesting, the idea of a group of soldiers risking everything to save one man was inspiring, and I couldn't help but get into it. I started to get comfortable as the story progressed, and I began to get tired.
Half way through the vid, I started to get tired. I laid my head on Xero's shoulder, he felt warm...comfortable. It was then I realized how safe I felt when I was around him. And I loved all of the feelings that came through me whenever I see him. I couldn't deny it anymore.
I had fallen in love with him.
A/N: Since Xero's past has been kinda up in the air, I thought a chapter that more or less explained what he had been though would have been helpful in addition to the flashbacks he's been having in his dreams. Figured that it would add an aura of mystery behind the protagonist. Update right around the corner folks.