A/N: Like many in this site, I fully believe that the three endings to ME3 left a lot to be desired. That's why I full intend on making an ending in which everything works out the way it's suppose to.
The fight against the Flood begins now. So be set for a hell of a rid. (I own nothing)
The phrase 'mexican stand off' just didn't quite cover our current situation. The line of ten Flood combat forms and roughly twelve Infection forms stood infront of us like a mutated barricade. "Can we take them?" asked Shepard. "There are only ten. We stand a good chance. Just don't let the tiny ones latch onto you. Or you'll become one of them." I said back.
Wrex grabbed his new gravity hammer off his back. Jorge gripped his weapon tighter. Heller brought out his claws. And me, Kat, Shepard and Ashley readied our weapons.
"CHILDREN OF MY ENEMY, WHY HAVE YOU COME? I OFFER NO FORGIVENESS FOR THIS INTRUSION." all of the combat forms said in the same deep rumbling voice. The whole team looked shocked. "The real question it what the hell are you doing here Gravemind!" I shouted.
The forms all chuckled darkly. "I CANNOT BE DEFEATED. THE FORERUNNERS WERE FOOLISH, MUCH LIKE YOU ARE NOW." "What did you do with the colonists?" demanded Shepard. The Gravemind laughed through it's puppets, "THEY HAVE JOINED THEIR VOICES WITH MINE. WE ARE ONE IN THE SAME."
"Shepard. The Gravemind is the Flood's hivemind. He controls them all because they are nothing more than his puppets. The colonists are dead." I said while I had Prophet scan for tactical options.
"Your not getting away with this!" yelled Ashley. "IMPUTENT WELPS! I HAVE DESTROYED FLEETS OF THOUSANDS. RIDDING THE GALAXY OF FLESH, AND MIND, AND BONE!" We prepared to fight, "We're not going end up like your fucked up errand boys." said Heller.
The Gravemind laughed through the combat forms, "YOU WILL BE FOOD. NOTHING MORE." With that they attacked.
Wrex charged forward and slammed the gravity hammer down. The shockwave it caused sent three of the combat forms crashing to the ground and walls. Heller slashed the creatures that lept at him to pieces while making sure that the smaller infection forms didn't get to close.
Ashley and Kat were emptying their weapons taking out the arms and legs of the combat forms and taking out the infectious forms before they could get close. Jorge powered up his gun and literally tore the abominations apart with a hail of slugs.
Me and Shepard stood back to back firing at anything that was green. One combat form broke through our lines and went after Shepard. Her omni-blade sprang into existance and she sliced the thing in half right down the middle.
I put my rifle away and drew the two energy swords I had on me. The fork shaped blades hacked through the Flood's mutated skin as though it wasn't even there. The smell of burn, rotten flesh filled the air.
The fight was over in a matter of seconds, and all that was left of the combat forms were batterd, torn, and sliced into pieces all over the place. "Thoughtless abominations!" Wrex roared spitting on the corpse of one he had killed.
"We need to get off the planet and rethink our strategy." said Shepard leading the way back to our waiting pelican. "...Please! is any one out there?...We need assistance, our barriers won't hold long against...these...monsters!...Please help us!"
The whole team looked at each other as the transmission ended. "We can't leave those people to die." said Ashley. Shepard thought a minute before activating her comm, "Joker, can you find the location of that transmission?"
"Yeah, but are you sure you wanna go in there? Those zombie things definately are something that would require more than a group of six." replied the pilot. "We're not leaving them to die helmsmen. Do you have the coordinates?"
We heard Joker sigh, "Their located in a Prothean structure about five clicks from your location along the skyway." "Thanks Joker." said Shepard, she ended the link and looked at me. "Xero, you know these creatures. What else can we expect?"
I activated my omni-tool. "The Flood is a parasitic lifeform discovered by the Forerunners. The Flood, even for being a parasite, is very strong and intelligent. They infected a majority of the Forerunners, gathering their intelligence along with their bodies for their army."
"So this thing gather the intelligence of it's victims?" said Ashley. I nodded. "Do they know how to fly ships?" asked Wrex. I gave them a look and they all gasped. "They can't get off this planet! If they reach another colony, or worse the Citadel..." Shepard trailed off.
"There will be no stopping them." I said gravely. My omni-tool showed images of the multiple Flood forms. "You've already seen the infection form and the combat form. Which leaves only a couple more." The screen showed a Flood form that was bulbous and had two small legs and tentacles. "This is a carrier. Becareful because they explode and send out roughly seven infectors."
The image changed showing three seperate forms. "This is a pure form. It has the ability to shape-shift into three seperate forms. One for defense, offense, and speed. They also have the ability to shoot infectors from their mouths."
"What about this fucking Gravemind?" asked Heller. "The Gravemind is formed after the Flood have gathered enough intelligence and biomass to form it. It's intelligent, cunning, and very formidable. The only known record of one being seen was by Master Chief Spartan 117." I said finishing my little presentation.
Shepard formulated a plan. "Kat, I need you to pilot the pelican until we make an LZ to pick up the colonists. The five of us will head toward the location and link up with the survivors." Kat nodded and got into the pelican. "Lets move people. We have a lot of ground to cover, and I don't think those parasites will make it easier for us." said Shepard.
The pelican took off into the foggy skies as we started toward the skyway. "It's too quiet." said Jorge. "Yet I can't help but feel we're being watched." Wrex nodded, "Not even the Rachni were this...disturbing." I looked over at Ashley and saw her quivering a little bit.
I put my hand on her shoulder making her eyes snap over to me, "Relax Ash. We got each other's backs." I said strongly. She took a deep breath and nodded.
After a little ways, we began to see growths on the walls and ceilings of the corridors we were traveling through. "What are these things?" asked Shepard aiming at a fleshy bubble that was pulsing. "Don't touch it. Those things are full of infectors." I said as we moved on.
A tentacle burst from the wall making us jump. Shepard snapped out her omni-blade and sliced it off the wall. "This is looking pretty fucking bad." said Heller looking at the walls in digust. "You don't have a clue. This is a cake walk in comparison to what we will encounter." I said gravely. "Don't you mean 'might' encounter?" asked Shepard leading again.
I stayed silent, and they all got the message.
X
Zhu's Hope...could only be discribed as pure hell. Human bones were scattered here and there. Growths covered the buildings and the ground. And worst of all, it was completely silent...like a grave.
"This...this is horrible." said Shepard. Wrex kicked a pile of bones aside, "These humans didn't diserve this."
I looked down and saw a datapad sticking out of the ground. Bending down, I grabbed it and yanked it out of the fleshy growth. "Looks like the colonists were doing just fine a week ago." I said reading through it. "You mean all of this happened in the span of one week?" asked Ashley. I nodded and clicked through the datapad, "Apparently, two weeks ago a ship crashed on the planet close to the Exogeni building down the skyway. When they went to investigate..."
I paused...I couldn't believe what I was seeing. "Six?" asked Jorge. Shepard came over and looked at the datapad. On the screen, was the image of the ship's wreckage. But it wasn't just any ship.
"Forward Unto Dawn." I whispered. It was unbelieveable! The wreckage of the UNSC ship was looking me right in the face. "It's a UNSC frigate. It was also the last ship known to have Master Chief on it."
Jorge perked up. "You think John's still on board?" "Maybe...but if the Flood came here on the same ship things will be difficult. At least we have a way to stop the infestation." Shepard looked at me, "What do you mean?"
I sighed, she wasn't going to like this. "If the Damn's engine core is still active, even just a little, overloading it and causing it to explode will wipe out the Flood here on Feros." Shepard's look turned from aghast, to anger. "I know what your thinking Shepard. But it's either we loose this colony. Or risk losing the rest of the planet and more if they managed to get off world."
The Commander sighed, "We'll worry about that when the time comes. Right now let's get to the survivors." Before we started moving, a loud shreaking-roar echoed through the silent colony. "Shit." said Heller bringing out his blade.
Through the fog, multiple shapes were seen leaping ontop of the buildings. Our weapons were ready as the first of the Flood started attacking.
We mostly used our shotguns, the power and the wide blast radius blew sizable chunks off of the combat forms before they could reach us. Jorge's gun was firing full blast into the fog, the sounds of the slugs tearing through flesh could easily be heard.
A pure Flood came through in it's speed form before morphing into it's massive defense form. Wrex roared and charged it with his hammer ready. The pure form just roared and slammed the warlord aside with one of it's large arms.
A combat form lept down behind us and slashed out with one of it's tentacles. The appendage passed right through Ashley's shield and put a deep gash into the chestplate of her armor. I spun and rammed my fist into the creature's chest and crushing the infection form within.
Shepard threw a volley of grenades that blew several of them apart, but they still kept coming. "There's too many of them." she shouted to the rest of us. Wrex slammed the bladed end of his gravity hammer into a pure form nearly slicing it in half.
Heller was spinning in wide circles, his large blade hacking and slashing through the combat forms like a deranged chainsaw. I had a feeling he felt like he was back in NYZ all over again.
I dumped another heat sink and slammed in a new one. Things weren't looking good. No matter how many we killed, more kept coming. "Shepard where's the skyway!" I shouted knocking a combat form aside with the butt of my shotgun.
"Behind us!" she shouted back. She pulled out a plasma grenade she got from the Solace's armory and rammed it down a pure form's throat before diving away as it exploded in a cloud of gore.
I looked over my shoulder, the doorway that lead to the skyway was blocked by a thin membrane of growth. "Cover me!" I shouted running to the covered opening. I pulled out an energy sword and started hacking my way through the thin tissue.
The other's kept the Flood off my back. Jorge had to shoulder his heavy gun because it was severly overheated, now he was using two Brute maulers he had gotten from the ship.
Ashley shot a carrier which exploded, knocking several combat forms off their feet but sent a small wave of infectors at us. Luckily, since they were weak, they were dispatched easily with a few well placed rounds.
I made it through the small barrier and called to the rest of the team, "It's open let's go!" They didn't waste time running through the opening. I pulled out two plasma grenade's and primed them before dropping them outside the opening.
When I caught up to the others, I heard the loud explosion followed by a roar of anger.
X
We managed to get to the garage a little while later. Thankfully there wasn't any growth inside, and no Flood as far as I could see.
Wrex and Jorge sealed the door leading back to the colony and stacked heavy crates against it to block the way. "It won't hold for long." said Jorge. We headed toward the only working Mako in the room.
Heller shifted his arm to normal as he glared at where we came from, "This shits looking way too fucking familiar to me." Ashley popped out of the Mako's hatch and joined us, "It still works. Though I don't know what will happen when we pull out of here."
I pushed my comm, "Kat, what's your status?" "I'm close to the LZ location, but I can't tell if it is secure enough to land." "Don't worry we're almost there. We'll flag you down when the place is secured." I replied. "Got it. Becareful down there guys."
When the link ended there was a large crash against the barricaded door. "Time to go." I said as we all lept into the Mako. Shepard grabbed the controls while Wrex jumped into the gun as we drove off to the exit.
The problem was that the main door was closed, and looked to be locked. "Shit, now what?" said Ashley. I popped the hatch and jumped out, sprinting over to the control terminal. "Xero whatever your doing do it quick!" shouted Jorge.
I brought up my omni-tool and started hacking into the terminal. The door behind us burst open and the Flood started pouring into the garage. Wrex spun the Mako's cannon around and started blasting away at the coming tide.
The terminal was giving me trouble, but I managed to undo three of the five lockdown programs. "Xero!" shouted Shepard over the comms. "Working on it!" I shouted back as I continued to run through the programs.
Four locks down.
A combat form managed to get through Wrex's assault and ran at me. I spun around with my handcannon out and blew several holes in it before turning back to the terminal. "Almost...got it!"
The large door opened and the Mako started to go forward. Ignoring the large wave of Flood, I ran as fast as the suit would allow me to. I caught up to the Mako and lept up onto it's roof before getting back inside. "That was cutting it too close." I said leaning back in my seat. "Thats an understatement." said Ashley.
The Mako roared down the skyway. We could see Flood growths at various points along the large stretch of road. "Their even covering the Prothean ruins." said Shepard looking at the old structures around us. Heller watched as well, and I could tell that he was having a few flashbacks of what happened in New York Zero.
"We got company!" shouted Wrex from the turret. Ahead of us, Flood pure forms lined the walls in their turret like offensive forms. In moment's, the creatures fired a volley of spikes that bounced off of our shields and armor.
Shepard gunned the engine while Wrex tried to pick off as many of the pure forms as he could. Infront of us, Flood combat forms charged the Mako but were rundown by the vehicle's large wheels.
One of the combat forms latched onto the side of the Mako and started hammering away at the armor. I popped open the roof hatch and fired my shotgun. The blast blowing the combat form right off of the Mako.
'Xero?" called Shepard. "Just keep driving!" I shouted back down sealing the hatch. I stood on the roof safely away from the cannon's rotation and had my shotgun ready.
Another combat form latched onto the vehicle and wasted no time blasting it off. Another one managed to crawl ontop of the Mako, but I gave it a hard kick launching it off.
A loud thud resounded behind me. I turned and saw a pure form in it's speed stage before it morphed into it's defensive stage. "A shit." The creature roared and slammed it's large arm down. I rolled to the side dodging it but there was little space to manuver.
I didn't have time to draw my energy swords, so I held my shotgun in my right hand and activated my omni-blade in the other. The pure form attacked again. I lashed out with my omni-blade slicing it's arm off before blasting it in the 'face' with my shotgun.
The creature recoiled, but simply grew it's lost limb back and went on the assault again. I fired my shotgun again and again until it overheated and jammed. It swung it's arm, but I dove and rolled between it's legs, slicing it's left leg off at the knee as I passed.
I heard someone pounding on the ceiling of the Mako inside. I looked ahead and saw a pillar that had fallen down onto the skyway. I looked back at the pure form before jumping off the roof and grabbing onto a handhold on the side of the Mako.
The pure form had enough time to look ahead just as the low pillar slammed into it and sent if flying off of the vehicle. I let out a breath before getting back ontop of the Mako and opened the hatch.
Suddently, my left leg exploded with pain. "Warning. Suit Breached!" Prophet alerted. I looked down and saw a spike sticking through my thigh. Ignoring it, I jumped back down inside.
"You alright?" asked Ashley. I grabbed onto the spike and yanked it out of my leg allowing for the suit and my body to heal."Yeah...just peachy." I muttered.
X
We managed to reach the location where the transmission had come from. We stopped the Mako, which had mutliple spikes sticking out of the armor along with severe dents and scratches.
The moment we got out, I caught sight of two warthogs and a mongoose ATV. "Guess they've been using the hardware from the ship." said Jorge. "Not hard to believe. They must have made due with whatever they could find." said Wrex.
We walked past the makeshift barricades and past the fully armed guards that were using UNSC weaponry and into a room where over a dozen people were gathered. "You...your not one of them." said an Asari approaching us. "We recieved your transmission. We're here to help." said Shepard.
"Thank the goddess." she said relieved. "My name is Shiala. We've been trapped here by those...things for days. They killed the colonists, turning them into more creatures."
"Their called the Flood. And believe me, your lucky to be alive." I said looking at the other survivors. "What was an Asari doing on a human colony?" asked Ashley. Shiala looked hesitant, then sighed, "I was working with Saren and Lady Benezia. They came here in search of a creature called the Thorian. A planet being that was capable of controlling the mind's of others through it's spores."
"But when we arrived. Those things had the colony overrun. But Saren...he just walked through them as though they weren't there. We found the Thorian surrounded by the creatures, standing guard."
"What was the importance of the Thorian?" asked Shepard. "It contained the Prothean cipher. A way for Saren to understand the Prothean language and history. And help make sense of the beacon that was implanted into his mind. He had me meld with it, then meld with him to give him the cipher."
Shiala looked stricken, "After it was over...the creatures attacked the Thorian. Infecting it...Saren left me for dead." She looked at all of us. "I used my biotics to stay alive, and saved as many people as I could."
"If the Flood have allied themselves with Saren and the Reapers we're in a lot more trouble than we originally thought." I said gravely.
"What about the ship that crashed?" asked Jorge. The Exogeni scientist sighed, "It crashed here over a week ago. The amount of technology, weapons and vehicles inside were to good to be true. Then one day...they just started pouring out. Infecting anything that was alive or dead. Not even the Geth stood a chance against them." "Guess they'll spare Saren, but not his guards." snorted Wrex.
Shepard looked around, "Is this everyone." Another woman approached wairing a Exogeni lab coat. "There were 20 of us when we first got here..." she said holding her daughter close. Shepard activated her comm, "Kat, we found the survivors." "Copy that Commander, making my approach." replied Kat.
"Alright everyone, we have a dropship inbound to pick us up. So gather what belongings you can and get ready for dustoff." The survivors immediately started scrambling to get ready. "It isn't much, but at least we were able to save some of them." said Ashley. "It's better than no one at all." said Jorge.
X
Luckily there was a platform on the outside of the Prothean structure big enough for the pelican to land. Me and Ashley looked into the foggy skies and saw Kat coming in. "There she is." said Ashley.
"We got problems back here!" shouted Wrex over the comms, gunfire and shreaks sounding in the background. I looked at Ash as the survivors started running out of the building. "Get them on the ship, we'll cover you." I said running back inside.
At the barricade, Shepard, Jorge, Wrex and Heller were working with the guards to try and hold back the Flood as they began pounding on the barricades. Heller swept his whipfist over the barricade slicing several of the creatures and forcing them back.
The various Flood forms roared in pain but continued to pound away. Shepard primed grenades and threw them over the makeshift walls while Me and Jorge fired everything we had through gaps to try and lower their numbers.
"Commander, the survivors are all onboard. Now would probably be a good time to leave!" shouted Ashley. "Everyone fall back!" Shepard ordered. We about faced and ran back into the structure. A moment later the barricades behind us collapsed and the Flood started flowing in.
"Stand clear!" Heller shouted as he fired a barrage of tendrils from his arms. The small limbs latching onto the combat forms and branching off grabbing everything around them. In an instant all of the debris and equipment shot back inward in a shuddering explosion.
With the way clear, we all double timed it back to where the LZ was located and the colonists had just finished loading onto the pelican. "Guys we gotta go before more Flood show up." Kat said from the cockpit.
We had just stepped into the troop compartment when the ground started to rumble, we all looked around. "What the hell is that? A quake?" asked Ashley. My eyes widened in horror. "No..."
Large tentacles suddently burst from the ground and stretched into the sky, and with them, a dark bellowing laugh echoed through the area. "We gotta get out of here!" Jorge roared as Kat punched it.
One of the tentacles struck the side of the pelican. Ashley lost her footing and tumbled out of the still open hatch. I lept and caught her just before should could plummet back down. "Gotcha Ash!" I shouted bringing her back on board.
Shepard's eyes widened, "Xero!" I felt it before I saw it. A long skinny tentacle wrapped around my leg and yanked me off the ship. Tumbling through the air, I managed to brace myself. Maximum Armor." I flipped around and landed back on the platform feet first, making a crater in the stone floor.
"Xero we're coming back to get you!" said Shepard through the comms. "Negative Commander! That thing will rip you out of the sky! Get back to the Solace, I'll be okay." I said back. "Xero-" "Dammit Shepard get everyone out of here! I know what I'm doing! Trust me!" I shouted.
She sighed, "Alright, you better come back alive soldier." I smirked, "I don't intend to die here Shepard." The line ended after that.
"NOW THE GATE HAS BEEN UNLATCHED. HEADSTONES PUSHED ASIDE. CORPSES SHIFT AND OFFER RULING. A FATE YOU MUST ABIDE!" I bent down and scooped up the MA37 assault rifle at my feet. "I don't fucking think so. I think it's time you learned why they called me the Hyper Lethal Vector."
I cocked the bolt back on the rifle and prepared to fight.
A/N: Standing alone against a Flood threat, Xero's going to stand firm like the Spartan that he is. Update coming soon.