Disclaimer: I own neither Mass Effect or Crysis.
As usual, thanks to DN7 for his betaing work.
"It's time to ditch the Mako. We'll continue on foot abd let Joker pick it up when we've cleared the dig site." Shepard announced as I jumped off the Mako. Looking back, I watched as the Mako hatch opened up and Garrus climbed out.
"How's it going?" he asked as he walked up to stand next to me.
"Good." I said, glancing back at Wrex who had just climbed out of the Mako and was complaining about the Mako not being big enough for a krogan.
"You didn't have to take the guns you know Wrex. You could have stayed in the crew compartment where there is more room." Shepard chuckled.
"And let a turian take the guns? I don't think so Shepard." Wrex grumbled as Shepard slid gracefully out of the Mako.
"Alright guys. Dig site is just through this canyon here. Expect heavy geth resistance. They might be setting up an ambush. Wraith, I want you to go on ahead to scout out the area. Once we know what we're dealing with we'll make a plan of action." She ordered.
"Got it Shepard. I'm moving." I said cloaking and walking into the canyon. The first thing I noticed was that it was empty; No geth there at all. I furrowed my brow while I walked forward along the snaking path. It didn't make any sense to me, this would be the best place for an ambush and I didn't believe that the geth wouldn't take the opportunity. "SECOND, are you picking up any geth activity?" I asked.
"Negative. No geth activity."
"None at all?" I asked, surprised at the missed opportunity. "Shepard, the canyon is clear. No geth of any kind." I paused when I didn't receive an answer. "Commander?"
"Warning. Jamming field in place. Warning. geth activity detected. "
Fuck. I thought as all of a sudden geth started popping up from all over the place, leveling their weapons at me. I realized that they must have been able to see through my cloak as I dived forward dodging most of their shots. Turning the dive into a roll to get behind some cover right at the base of a cliff side allowed me to stay out of sight of most of the geth. Switching into armor mode I pulled out my SCAR and spun to my side firing off a burst at the geth still able to hit me.
I was able to take one out before the others ducked behind cover themselves. Grimacing as the others were still pouring fire all around me, pinning me down, I pulled out a frag grenade and primed it. After a second I popped up out of cover, and threw the grenade at a cluster of geth, popping back in cover before I could see it explode.
"Alright SECOND. Give me some options." I said, as rock showered me from all the impacts on my cover.
"Attempting to circumvent jamming field."
Damn. I thought realizing that I couldn't move from my position and the best I could do was attempt to pick off the geth one by one until Shepard would either come looking for me or hear the gunfire. I flinched as a rather large chunk of rock fell to the ground, showing me exactly how thin my cover was becoming. I moved to the side of my cover until I reached the edge. Peeking out, I saw another rock standing about five meters away. Realizing that I would need to move sooner rather than later I prepared to make a mad dash for the next dash. I switched into power mode in an attempt to make it to the rock before being hit too much.
Just as I was about to dash to the next rock I finally heard something that brought me great relief, the familiar staccato of assault rifles that didn't belong to the geth coming from behind me.Almost immediately the fire keeping me suppressed slightly let up as some geth turned to engage the new threat. I however still sprinted from cover and slid behind the rock that was my new cover. I could feel the various impacts as the geth hit me during the run but they didn't make their way through my armoring. By the time I had pressed myself into the rock the fire on me had let up considerably, allowing me to start picking off some more geth.
A loud thump sounded behind me and I glanced over my shoulder to see a geth shock trooper standing there a shotgun raised at my face. Before I could do much more than spin around the trooper was surrounded by blue flame and was yanked of its feet towards me. Quickly activating power mode I punched the geth sending it flying into the wall where impacted with a loud crunch. Raising my foot I slammed it down on the geth's head smashing it to pieces. I looked up just in time to see the last geth loose its head to Shepard's SCAR.
"Well Shepard, its nice of you to show up. I thought I was going to be alone at this party." I panted as the adrenaline from the fight wore off.
"You ok?" She asked concerned.
"Yeah. They were expecting me. Saw me straight through my cloak and activated a jamming field."
"We heard the gunfire. Figured you had messed something up." Shepard told me.
"Please. I don't mess stuff up." I scoffed.
"Keep telling yourself that."
"They set up a jamming field. We won't be able to use our comms with it up." I told her.
"I know. Keep your eyes open for a jamming device of some kind. Now let's move up." She ordered, "Wrex in front."
"Got it." Wrex acknowledged walking forward. I joined Shepard who had her SCAR out while Garrus followed us with his Mantis sniper rifle. I turned around to look back at the site of the ambush. Geth bodies littered the floor everywhere back to the side of the cliff was a small rock more resembling Swiss cheese than an actual rock. Shaking my head in slight amusement I turned back towards Wrex who was plodding along the canyon. As the canyon started opening up Wrex slowed to a stop, pressing himself against the wall he peeked out for a second before drawing back and turning towards Shepard. "Lots of geth out there Shepard." he said quietly.
She nodded before responding "Wraith, think you can peek out without them noticing you?"
"Probably. The cloaking should lower my thermal image enough that they won't notice." I said taking Wrex's place who moved out of the way.
"Cloak Engaged."
I poked my head around the corner, allowing me to get a good view of the area. Switching over to my suits Visor mode I began identifying and tagging the various geth spread around the place. Cursing to myself for Shepard's lack of GHOST armor so that she could see what I'm identifying I started voicing my findings. "Alright we have a path that leads straight forward for about fifty meters. It makes a U turn and heads up along a cliff to the top where it makes another U turn on towards the dig site. There are three towers up on top of the cliff with a sniper in each. Four shock troopers are on the bottom path which has plenty of cover, along with ten regular troopers." I zoomed in on some geth on the ridge and my suit tagged them as rocket troopers. "There are four rocket troopers on the ridge, along with four more regular troopers. Single geth destroyer is at the end of the bottom path." I finished, zooming out from the towering geth.
"Is that it? No drones? None of those hoppers?" Shepard asked.
"No. No fliers, no frogs."
"Alright. Garrus, Wraith, I want you two to get rid of the geth on the ridge while Wrex and I deal with the geth at the bottom of the ridge. We may need your help with the destroyer so when you're finished focus fire to bring it down. Got it?"
"Of course Commander." Garrus said instantly.
"Finally some real fun." Wrex said happily.
"Snipe the flashlight heads. Got it." I nodded before turning to Garrus "How many shots can you fire and how many does it take to bring the geth down?" I asked.
"10 shots and two shots per geth."
I nodded once thinking "Rate of cooldown?" I asked.
"One shot every two seconds." Garrus answered immediately.
"Finally, time to acquire a new target, about fifty meters down range, five meters max distance from each geth?"
"One to two seconds."
"Alright, this is what we're going to do. I'll take out the three snipers and you take out the four rocket troopers. After those are down we focus down the regular troopers. I'll probably have a single shot left before overheat after the snipers so it will be down to you to take the majority of those out. Alright?" I asked having detailed my plan out.
"Fine with me. We're ready Shepard." Garrus said acquiescing to my plan as I holstered my SCAR and drew my DSG-1.
"Alright, Wraith, Garrus you take the first shot. After you fire Wrex and I will engage the shock troopers. Keep those snipers and rockets off us." Shepard ordered.
"Alright, you ready Garrus?" I asked.
"I believe I already answered that question." Garrus chuckled. "May the best sniper win."
I nodded and shouted "Now!" I jumped out of cover, raising my DSG-1 to my visor and acquired my target with speed and precision that only the nanosuit could give me. As my crosshairs came to rest on the head of the sniper on the last tower I pulled the trigger sending a electrically wrapped shard of titanium armor piercing metal downrange. It's shields flared as it attempted to stop the hyper velocity round which tore through them and caused the geth's head to explode in a shower of sparks.Beside me I heard the sharp retort of Garrus's sniper rifle even as I switched targets to the next tower and its sniper. Pulling the trigger again caused this sniper to also fall to the ground, missing its flashlight. It was now that I felt, rather than saw Wrex charging down the hill with a massive roar. There was another retort from beside me as Garrus took his second shot. Sighting in on the last sniper this one too lost its head to my DSG-1, which gave a beeping overheat warning afterward.
Holstering my sniper, I drew my SCAR and switched it to its SCARE mode. In this time Garrus had taken out the remaining rocket troopers and was taking down the rest of the troopers with two quick and accurate shots to the head. When I finally raised my SCARE to my visor there was only one geth Trooper left which went down in an instant as both Garrus and I both pulled the trigger the same time taking its shields down and removing its head at the same time. Now I was able to look down at Shepard and Wrex who were tearing up the geth down at the bottom. Looking on I noticed the destroyer stomping towards them.
"Cover me!" I shouted at Garrus as I switched the SCARE to its SCARAB mode and ran down the hill.
"Cloak engaged"
I ran past the fight between Wrex, Shepard and the geth undetected as they were all busy fighting and circled around the destroyer even as it got closer to the fight. When I came up behind the Destroyer, I uncloaked and realized that I wouldn't be able to kill it before it turned around and blasted me into a very expensive corpse. So I decided to improvise. Drawing my Charcharias dagger while holstering the SCARAB I sprinted towards the Destroyer's unprotected back and jumped up, hooking my arm around its neck as it immediately started jerking around trying to shake me off. Holding on tighter I plunged my dagger into its neck, severing some wires. Immediately the massive juggernaut fell to the ground and as I jumped off towards where Wrex and Shepard were fighting the geth I saw something that made my blood run cold. A bolt of biotic energy was speeding straight towards me. I was unable to do anything as I fell towards the ground where the warp would hit me head on. Bracing myself I hit the ground and was hit by the bolt. Immediately pain ripped through my chest as my suit twisted and turned on a molecular level tearing through the nanoweave like it was tissue paper. After tearing through the nanoweave it tore through my skin. My visor darkened as I fell to the ground. I could faintly hear panicked yelling in the background before even that faded as the suit locked itself down completely.
Shepard's POV, Moments before
Shepard was in her element. While Wraith was the undisputed stealth operative and could no doubt hold his own in normal combat, Shepard thrived in the thick of combat, devastating everything that stood in her way. Yet throughout the entire battle she remained aware of her surroundings. Wrex was just behind her, smashing a geth into a wall. She remained aware of the geth destroyer closing in on her even as she pulled another trooper straight into the muzzle of a shotgun.
Spinning around she gathered a ball of dark energy in her hand and threw the warp at the destroyer. That's when things went wrong. As the warp left her hand she saw something that made her blood run cold. The Destroyer was toppling to the ground and Wraith was jumping down from having climbed up and had stabbed the thing in the neck, he was not where she thought he was, back with Garrus. Time seemed to slow down as Wraith and the warp headed for collision.
Wraith hit the ground and the warp slammed into his chest, what little hope Shepard had that the nanosuit would be able to defend against the warp was shattered as it tore a gaping hole in the suit and into Wraith's chest underneath. "Wraith!" Shepard yelled as Wraith staggered and fell back landing on his back. Making a mad dash towards him, Shepard slid to a stop over him. "Fuck! Man down! Man down!" Shepard grabbed Wraith and pulled him back behind some cover before getting a good look at the damage. The warp had torn a massive hole in the suit and had gone through and torn up his chest as well. She could see his ribs and even his sternum exposed to the air. And even those were badly damaged.
Shepard hesitated, normally someone sustaining such injuries wouldn't survive very long and medi-gel could at most allow the wounded to reach a med-lab with the proper facilities. Shepard was drawn back to the scene not even five hours ago where Raven team's medic Tigress had told her that medi-gel would only hinder the suit. Shepard however wondered if that would be the case with such a injury.
Just as Shepard decided to risk it, something happened that caused her to stop and stare in astonishment. The chest cavity was for the lack of a better word bubbling as a dark grey substance started covering the wound. The substance spread quickly and when it had covered the entire wound it hardened, giving the appearance of synthetic skin stretching across Wraith's chest.
Shepard sank back astonished, she had just seen the nanosuit heal an injury that should have been fatal within seconds. Well, it stabilized him within seconds. She amended herself I doubt that he is completely healed.
Less than a minute later Wraith took a big gasp of air and said "What the?"
Wraith POV, moments after impact
SECOND started speaking even as my visor showed a view of my suit and body, a massive hole in the chest of the suit highlighted, along with a large area right underneath that area on my body also highlighted in red.
"Warning. Catastrophic suit damage. Suit integrity, 0%.
Switching to mass repair mode. Life-support priority."
The view of my suit changed to show the suit on a microscopic level as the nanocells became active.
"Warning. user damage detected. Advanced healing engaged. Injecting emergency nanocells. Repairing systems."
With the nanocells active and beginning to repair the damage to me and the suit my visor view switched to the suits deep layers
"Warning. Deep layer protocols engaging.
Analyzing attack. Processing. . .
Attack identified. Dark energy amplification. Dark energy damage contained.
Re-booting core functions. . .
Dark energy vector isolated; retained at deep layer. Processing. . .
Nano-form analysis underway. Compatibility register enabled. Processing. . .
Compiling profile. Nano-evolution protocols engaged. Nano-evolution viability assessment underway. Processing. . ." With that my visor cleared, granting me vision of the outside world once more.
Shepard's extremely agitated face swam into view above me. "What the?" I muttered thinking back to what the suit had been doing.
"Wraith! Just stay calm. Let the suit do its work." Shepard immediately said, looking at my chest.
"Oh, fuck." I swore as my muscles clenched and pain broke through the pain killers the suit had me on. "Argh, I'm fine." I said.
"What do you mean you're fine? I just hit you with a warp! That's not something you just get up from!" Shepard cried out, almost hysterically.
"Relax, Vanyali" I said, calling Shepard by her first name "The suit took most of the damage. I was barely hit by it. Biotics tear the suit apart. It can't defend itself against dark energy. Although..." I trailed off in thought thinking back to what the suit was doing. "SECOND, status report."
"Suit integrity, 23% and rising. User damage has been repaired. Deep layer protocols have been engaged. Dark energy targeted nanoshell on molecular level. Nano-evolution viability assessment is underway."
I furrowed my eyebrows at this. "Nano-evolution?" So it's trying to find a defense?
"What's going on?" Shepard asked, still rather shaken.
I sighed as I began to explain "The nano-evolution protocols are what control the nanosuit's evolution and adaptation. First it has to figure out if its even possible. This is the viability assessment. Once that's done the suit can change itself to accommodate the new upgrade. Pretty much from what I can tell its trying to evolve to create a protection against biotics." I explained.
"Is that even possible?" Shepard asked.
"If it is, the nanosuit will find a way." I responded.
"Right. Right." She muttered "Normandy won't be able to make a pickup until we clear the dig site so-"
"Hold it right there Shepard. I am not going to be extracted now." I interrupted her.
"You were just hit by a warp. I am in no way going to let you go on. This is not debatable." She told me, eyes flashing.
"Bah. I might not be able to engage in any heavy combat but I am far from useless. I'll be able to give you sniper support. I've had worse injuries and was still able to continue the op."
"You've been badly injured not even five hours ago wraith. You were unconscious for an hour." She argued back.
"Tigress kept me sedated. Otherwise I'd have been up and running within half an hour, and those injuries were much worse than this." I told her. It was then that SECOND spoke up.
"All systems rerouted. Cleared to proceed. Warning. Suit integrity, 50%."
With my suit functions back online I stood up. Shepard obviously didn't like me getting up but didn't say anything.
"Look, Shepard. I know the nanosuit better than you right?" I asked. Shepard was forced to nod slowly. "Then trust me. I know what I can do and what I can't."
Shepard was silent for a few moments before finally, "Fine. But you are staying well behind the actual fighting until your suit is fully repaired." She told me gesturing towards my chest.
Looking down I saw what she was indicating, there was an area right over my chest where there was a distinctive lack of muscled nanoweave. The muscled look replaced by a flat area of a replacement nanoweave. The Coltan-titanium was also missing, giving the nanosuit a damaged look. The replacement nanoweave would be replaced over time by the suit itself, the Coltan-titanium however would need extensive repairs at a proper facility. While the Nanosuit could compensate for the missing metal it would be that much weaker until it was fixed. "Will do commander."
"Alright, Wrex! Garrus! We're moving out. Intel has the dig site at the top of that ridge. Wraith once we reach the top, I want you to find an elevated area and provide us sniper support. Lets try to minimize friendly fire from here on out." While it sounded like Shepard was joking around I could tell that the incident had shaken her.
"Yeah, I'll see what I can do about that." I said, already planning on requisitioning some GHOST armor for the team, which would allow for greater battlefield awareness for everyone.
When we reached the top of the ridge, I could see the dig site up ahead. Off to the right was a hill that looked perfect for a sniper nest. Informing Shepard of my decision I climbed up the hill and drew both my DSG-1 and my SCARE, placing the DSG-1 on the ground next to me as I lay down on my stomach, raising the six power optical scope of the SCARE to my visor. I peered down at the squad as they were heading over to the dig site. "I'm in position." I said over the comm.
"Copy that. Any hostiles?" Shepard questioned immediately.
"Negative. I see no hostiles at the dig site. That however doesn't mean much as the Geth seem adept at hiding themselves."
"Alright. Keep your guard up people. I wouldn't be surprised if we're walking into another ambush." Shepard warned.
I kept a close watch on the dig site as the squad moved up. To the right of the path was the entrance to the actual mine, while on the left were a couple of prefab shelters with a walkway overlooking the entire camp. Just as the squad walked underneath the walkway did I see movement. "Movement! We have movement!" I shouted as four geth hoppers jumped up onto the pillars holding up the walkway. "Incoming dropship!" I warned as I saw said dropship come flying towards the digsite. As the dropship slowed to a hover over the digsite it started bleeding geth until finally the last thing it dropped with an audible thud from where I was lying. Immediately the strangely shaped package started transforming until the final product was standing infront of the squad.
"Armature! Get in cover!" Shepard shouted as the geth all started firing as one. "Wraith, take out those hoppers!"
I didn't even bother answering as I sent my first round downrange. The disruptor SCARE round was able to tear through the hopper's weak shielding and a second shot removed its head. The same thing happened with the next two hoppers. The last hopper however was able to dodge my first two shots until finally my third one smashed its way through a leg, blowing it completely off. When the hopper fell to the ground, unable to jump any longer it was finished off with a burst from Garrus's assault rifle.
With the hoppers dead I shifted my focus on taking out the other geth that were engaging the squad. My disruptor SCARE shots were able to take out geth troopers with two shots to the head, a single if I were able to hit the geth precisely in their optics. While I was taking out troopers attempting to flank the squad, I could hear Shepard barking out orders to Garrus and Wrex, telling them who to kill and what abilities to use. Eventually after taking out the last geth trooper, leaving only the Armature standing Shepard called out to me. "We need to take that armature down. Any ideas?"
"Just one!" I responded laying my SCARE to the side and picking up my DSG-1 "But you will have to take its shields down for it to work." I said, sending a command to the DSG-1 through my suit.
"Copy that Wraith. Let's take this things shields down!" Shepard ordered as my DSG-1's barrel lengthened to twice its already considerable length and the ammo block popped out. Pulling it out completely I drew a specialized round from a pouch on my vest.
Inserting the round into the rifle a low humming noise emanated from the rifle as I said "Let's introduce these boys to a little human ingenuity – the mark twelve penetrator round!" Raising the scope to my visor I strengthened my arm and shoulder with my suit as I waited for the armature's shields to drop. Finally with the sound of breaking glass, the shields dropped and I pulled the trigger of the now beefed up DSG-1. An enormous crack sounded as the hyper velocity round tore through the air and smashed its way through the armature's head, causing it to explode in a shower of sparks and oil. The recoil from the over powered shot had completely drained my suits energy as it attempted to keep the recoil from blowing my arm completely off. Raising my eyes from the scope I saw the while trail from the muzzle of my rifle to where the armature used to be dissipating. Silence fell upon the dig site as the rest of the squad looked at the armature in disbelief.
"And that is how you take out a walking tank. With an overpowered sniper rifle." I stated loudly over the comms.
"Overpowered is one way of putting it..." I heard Shepard mutter, followed by Wrex's shout of triumph.
"HA! Killing stuff with big guns. This is why I joined up with you Shepard!"
"And why didn't you use that against that destroyer Wraith?" Garrus asked.
"Mainly because it can fry the systems of the rifle if I use it too much." I answered looking ruefully at the flashing red light on my visor "So I try to limit its use against big targets."
"Alright. Now if the Phantom is done showing off his toys he can come down and join us in entering the mine." Shepard called out to me.
Chuckling slightly I holstered my DSG-1 and switched the SCARE back to SCAR. Standing, I jogged along the ridge until I reached the dig site where I dropped into a slide and slid down the hill coming to a rest on my feet at the bottom. "Ready when you are Shep."
Rolling her eyes Shepard motioned us towards the mine entrance saying "Wraith, you're last. You're suit doesn't look 100%."
"Right." I grumbled looking down at my chest to see that the replacement nanoweave had almost fully formed.
I followed the rest of the squad into an airlock that would lead on to the rest of the mine. We stood in silence as the airlock opened again, giving us a view of a long downward sloping tunnel. We started our way down the tunnel until:
"Warning. Hostiles detected."
"Stay close and keep alert. Wrex in front. Garrus get behind me-"
"That's what she said." I muttered.
Shepard ignored my comment by finishing up with, "Wraith you stay at the back. Move up."
The procession continued on, slower until we came out on a catwalk. "Two geth below!" Wrex shouted his shotgun already barking to life as he took a shot at one of them. The rest of us ran up next to him and opened fire on the two geth shock troopers below us. Almost immediately the two geth deployed a shimmering kinetic barrier in front of them, protecting them from our attacks. As soon as they did, my suit highlighted a pressurized fuel container right behind them and I shifted my aim towards it. The container burst as the pressurized gas rapidly escaped the compromised container and a second later Garrus hit the container with an overload igniting the fuel in a colossal fireball which destroyed both geth.
"Alright, good job." Shepard complimented us. "I may just keep you two." She teased as we walked down to where the geth used to be.
"I have to say, I've never been in a Prothean ruin before." I commented regarding the architecture. "Its interesting to say the least."
"What about the Citadel? That's Prothean." Garrus said giving me the turian equivalent of a smirk.
"Ugh. You know what I mean." I responded as we entered an elevator that would bring us deeper into the mine.
"It seems like the Protheans built to last, if it survived this long." Shepard commented looking around. "It's still in rather good shape." She said as the elevator opened and we stepped out onto another catwalk. Immediately four geth assault drones rose up from below us, but they were immediately taken out by a flurry of shotgun blasts and assault rifle bursts.
"Sterile white. The Protheans sure built things homey." Wrex commented as if nothing had happened.
"That's for sure." Shepard responded as we entered the next elevator leading down.
The ride down the second elevator was spent in silence until suddenly the elevator's gears and breaks started sparking and groaning.
"Warning elevator structural failure."
"Uh oh." I muttered as the elevator began gaining speed as it began to fall.
"HOLD ON!" Shepard shouted and we did exactly that.
When the elevator came to an abrupt stop, we were all thrown to the ground where we laid groaning for a second. I stood up first, saying "And that is why you should not exceed the maximum load of an elevator."
"Is everyone alright?" Shepard asked.
"It would take more than a little fall to hurt me Shepard." Wrex grunted.
"I'm fine." Garrus responded.
"Look at who you are asking shep." I said when Shepard looked at me. "Stand back." I warned.
"Maximum Power."
I bent down, digging my fingers underneath the door and pulled it up. With the door up I jumped down onto a broken catwalk at the bottom of the ruins and took a look around. Shepard followed me down and when Garrus and Wrex had joined us I picked up a voice with my suits auditory sensors.
"Uh... Hello? Could somebody help me? Please?"
"What was-?" Garrus asked confused as SECOND had broadcast it to the rest of the squad.
"Positive vocal ID match to Dr. Liara T'Soni."
"Guess that answers that question." Shepard muttered dropping down from the catwalk we were on to another at the bottom of the excavation. After joining her I saw the asari hanging inside some kind of bubble behind a large kinetic barrier.
"Liara T'Soni I presume?" Shepard asked.
"Thank the Goddess! I did not think that anyone would come looking for me. I am trapped in some kind of Prothean security device. I can't move, so I need you to get me out of it all right?" Liara answered.
"How did you end up in there?" I asked.
"I was exploring the ruins when the Geth showed up, so I hid in here. Can you believe that? geth! Beyond the Veil!" She responded.
"Yeah, I think that we can believe that, due to the fact that we just blasted through a few dozen of them on our way here." I responded dryly.
"I activated the tower's defenses. I knew that the barrier would be able to keep them out." She continued, "But when I turned it on I must have hit something I wasn't supposed to. I was trapped in here. You must get me out. Please."
"Yeah. That's what happens when you mess with unknown technology. I know the feeling." Shepard muttered.
"You would Shep. You would." I responded.
"Your mother is working with Saren. Whose side are you on?" Garrus asked Liara.
"What? I am not on anybody's side! I may be Benezia's daughter but I have not spoken to her in years! Please. Just get me out of here." Liara said.
"We will find some way to help you Liara." Shepard said.
"There is a control here that will allow you to turn this off, but you would have to find a way past the barrier." Liara said, motioning towards a console beside her with her head.
"My guess is that there are no conveniently located buttons out here to turn off the barrier?" I asked sardonically.
"No. It can only be shut down from the inside." Liara answered.
"Why are these things never simple?" I asked myself.
"Don't worry Liara. We will get you out of there." Shepard said reassuringly.
"Any ideas?" I asked.
"Yeah. Let's deal with these geth first." Came Shepard's reply as she saw movement in the cavern behind us.
"Take them out!" Wrex shouted charging down the ramp leading towards the cavern.
"I'll take em from up here Shepard!" I said before running into a position with a good view of the cavern.
"Good idea! Garrus join him. I'm going down to help Wrex." Shepard said as she too headed down the ramp.
"Looks like Wrex doesn't need help." I muttered commenting on Wrex's performance down there while drilling a sniper first.
"Indeed." Garrus chuckled as he took out the other sniper.
With the snipers down we were able to take shots at the Geth that Wrex and Shepard were not engaging at the moment. "I wonder what that is." Garrus said after a few shots.
"What?" I asked looking over at him.
"That." Garrus said pointing towards some kind of mining machinery.
"Object Identified. Object matches profiles of a mining laser. Note: Mining laser could be used to blast a hole in wall to reach Dr. T'soni."
"I think we just solved the problem of getting through to Liara." I said "That there is a mining laser. I think you can see how that would be useful."
"Ahh. Yes I think I can." Garrus chuckled.
"Do you boys see anymore geth here?" Shepard radioed as she finished off the last shock trooper.
"Negative Shepard. All threats neutralized. Garrus here found something that should help us get through to Liara." I responded jumping down to the cavern floor.
"Oh?" Shepard asked.
"Yeah. That's a mining laser. We should be able to hack it and blast a way through the wall." Garrus said.
"Nice. I think I might enjoy this." Shepard said almost giddily as she walked up to the mining laser. "Lets see now."
"Uh Shepard, why don't you let me handle the hacking of the giant laser beam." I said gently pushing Shepard to the side and allowing SECOND to interface with it.
"Hack in progress. . . Establishing control. . . Control Established. Firing laser."
The laser blasted its way through the wall underneath the kinetic barrier Liara was behind, allowing us to enter the tower through our newly made entrance. We came out on what seemed to be a large elevator leading all the way to the top however Shepard quickly found a problem.
"These are in Prothean. I have no idea what they say, for all I know I could tell the thing to smash us into a wall."
"Yeah, that could be a problem. SECOND, see if you can't figure it out."
"Hack in progress. . . Establishing control. . . Control Established. Raising elevator one floor."
"There we go." I said nodding. "If in doubt, use an AI."
"Good job." Shepard said as the elevator moved up to where Liara was trapped in her bubble.
"How did you get in here? I didn't think that there was a way past the barrier!" Liara asked as we approached her.
"If you find a mining laser, its quite simple. You just blast through. Surely you heard the noise?" Shepard asked.
"Of course yes. That makes sense. Please get me out before more Geth arrive. That button over there should shut down this containment field." Liara said.
"Hold. Let's have SECOND deal with this. We don't want you to press another button that will cause something worse to happen now do we?" I asked walking towards the terminal and allowing SECOND to interface with it.
"Hack in progress. . . Establishing control. . . Control Established. Releasing security systems. Security systems released."
T'soni landed on the floor on all fours as the bubble keeping her there dissipated.
"Any idea how we can get out of this place?" Garrus asked after Liara got up.
"Yeah, does that elevator in the center lead up to the top?" Shepard asked.
"It should lead us out of here." Liara said.
"Got it. Lets go boys." Shepard said and we walked towards the Elevator. "Wraith, get this elevator moving."
"Got it Shep." I said before SECOND began to bring the elevator up to the top.
"I still cannot believe this. Why would the Geth come after me? Do you think Benezia's involved?" Liara asked.
"Saren is looking for the Conduit. You're a Prothean expert. Obviously he wants you to help him find it." Garrus explained.
"The Conduit? But I don't know-" Liara was interrupted by a loud rumbling that shook the tower.
"What the hell was that?" Wrex asked.
"Ruins unstable. Mining laser triggered seismic event. Suggestion: Evacuation of ruins required."
"We have to hurry this whole place is caving in!" Liara said.
"Joker! Get the Normandy airborn and lock in on my signal. On the double mister!" Shepard ordered Joker over the comms.
"Aye, Aye Commander. Secure and aweigh. ETA eight minutes." Came Joker's swift reply.
"If I die in here I'll kill him" Wrex said.
"We have to get out of here now!" I said as we arrived at the top, only to be confronted by a krogan Battlemaster, a shock trooper, a rocket trooper and a sniper.
"Surrender! Or don't that would be more fun." The Battlemaster said to us.
"We don't have time to deal with this idiot! Charge!" Shepard said taking out her shotgun followed by Wrex taking his out and Garrus taking out his assault rifle.
"I like your attitude!" The Battlemaster said.
"I thought you'd never ask Shepard." I said grinning under my mask.
"Maximum Power."
I instantly charged forward drawing my dagger in the process. Leaping up I stabbed down on the Battlemaster only to have him jump to the side and try to punch me. Spinning around I avoided his strike before slashing out with my dagger, scoring a hit on his arm.
"HA! Its been a long time since I had a worthy opponent." The Battlemaster said before flaring biotically and throwing me into a pillar. Hitting the pillar feet first I immediately kicked off, switching my knife to my left hand. Right before I flew over the Battlemaster, my suit changed its outer texture to generate a lot of air friction, causing my trajectory to change so that I would land right on top of the krogan. My suit then caused a combination of things to happen. Firstly my right arm received a strength boost. Secondly, my right fist engaged armor. As I came down on top of the krogan, I hit him with a super powered punch which went right through his skull and impacted on the ground leaving a fist shaped dent, completely draining my energy in the process.
"Spirits!" Garrus exclaimed and I turned to see them staring at the Battlemaster's exploded head, the rest of the geth all lying scattered around the place.
"Now is not the time people! This place is going down we need to get out now!" I said quickly.
"You heard the man, lets move people! Get out of here!" Shepard yelled and we started running towards the exit with me bringing up the rear. As we came out where we came in rocks began falling all over the place. All of a sudden after Liara passed over a point on the catwalk a large boulder fell down and destroyed the walkway in front of me. Without hesitation, I jumped over the gaping hole rolling as I came up and started running again. "GO! GO! GO!" Shepard yelled as she let Wrex, Garrus and Liara past her. She started running again right before I got to her and we both sprinted up the long corridor to the surface. Just before we got above ground, there was a massive crash and we were enveloped in a large cloud of dust. Finally emerging above ground, everyone stopped to catch their breath, or in my case to allow the suit to recharge.
I looked up to see the Normandy coming down and said, "Evac has arrived. Lets get out of here."
"Objective complete. Mission successful."
A/N: Alright, well here is the friendly fire scene. I think that I've written it better than I did the last time.
Your feedback would be greatly appreciated, I definitely want to make NE the best it can be.
I am still taking some Inquisitor submissions for anyone who has some. The first submitted inquisitors will be making their appearance soon.
As always, I will see you guys on the 19th.
~LEGION