*FEROS, ZHU'S HOPE*
Shepard leaned back against the armored wall of their transport as he casually searched the faces of his newly formed crew. So far, he had been pleasantly surprised by their cooperation and professionalism in the face of what was undoubtedly a complete departure of their normal operations. Ashley was obviously irritated by the inclusion of so many aliens, but for the most part kept it to herself. Navigator Presley had also let slip that he was none too thrilled with a Turian being aboard. Joker and Kaidan, on the other hand, didn't seem phased by it in the least. Tali was just happy to be included in something, which left only Garrus and Wrex.
The Commander sighed inwardly as he imagined the uphill battle ahead of him regarding their continued cooperation with one another. Fortunately, so far both were still just sizing one another up and seeing what the other was prepared to tolerate. He knew if they started anything in earnest while out on a mission he would need to come down on them pretty hard. However, if they chose to sort things out on their own time without inflicting debilitating injuries to one another, he was prepared to let things play out.
Still, if he could inject a little camaraderie and steer them away from a conflict, he certainly wouldn't pass up the chance. He just needed to play off of what everyone in his motley crew had in common. They all knew how to fight.
"Coming up on the colony's skyway entrance." Tali called back from her place at the controller's yoke.
Shepard smiled. He'd been especially impressed by the young Quarian's skills given how reserved and shy she was around everyone else. Little did anyone realize that her non-threatening personality actually hid a cold-blooded Geth destroyer. She'd meticulously eradicated every single Geth platform swarming the skyway without so much as a chip of paint flaking off their tank's hull. Even despite the fact that the aforementioned vehicle handled like a two-legged elephant.
"Thanks Tali, good work. Weapons ready, people. Remember, we're trying to minimize civilian casualties but if it's you or them then it's always them." He unclipped his own weapon and wracked the slide to chamber a round. He would attempt to let his fists sort things out the old fashioned way, but failing that a good shotgun blast would undoubtedly finish the job.
Within a few moments, the rover ground to a halt and his team jumped to pile out of the vehicle. He followed Tali out after everyone else had exited then made his way to the front of their formation. He stopped dead when he caught sight of the sickly-looking creature huddled a dozen feet away.
"Um... was that here when we left?" He asked over his shoulder without taking his eye off the motionless figure.
After several seconds, Kaidan responded for the group who were currently engrossed by macabre curiosity. "I don't think so, Commander. Although I'll be honest, I was a little more preoccupied with the Geth in front of us than what was behind."
"Can't have eyes in the back of our heads." Kraven agreed as he gradually inched forward.
The figure was definitely Humanoid although the pale, sallow hide hanging from its bones gave it a decidedly alien appearance. As he got closer he could almost see the purplish lattice of veins within its puke colored skin pulsing with a heartbeat. His weapon stayed loosely pointed at whatever it was, but he decided he'd try to communicate.
"Hello? Can you hear me?"
He had to forcibly command his body to stand firm as his words elicited something of a reaction. In a disquieting motion that sent a shiver up his spine, the thing started to uncoil itself. One muscle at a time rippled like a snake beneath its hanging flesh as it slowly stood with disjointed, jerky movements. For some reason it reminded Kraven of a puppet master picking up a limp marionette and testing the strings.
He had a hard time finding his voice again as the creature's hollow, black eyes stared back at him. "I'm Commander Shepard. Are you alright?" It stood silently staring. By now he could see it used to be Human, but was definitely not anymore.
"I don't like this, Skipper." Ashley warned from behind. "That's not one of the colonists is it?"
Truth be told he didn't like it either, but if it was a colonist he needed to ascertain exactly how much Humanity this person still possessed. "Can you understand me? Are you alright?" Still no response.
Against his better judgment, he started to reach out with his left hand. "It's ok. Come with us so we can help treat you for whatever... this is." He said trying to keep a grimace from twisting his face.
He practically jumped out of his own skin when the creature's jaws shot open letting loose an unearthly wail. As his legs instinctively reacted by propelling him away, the thing's scream morphed into a grotesque, gurgling sound. That sound was shortly accompanied by a viscous stream of vomit. Without conscious thought, Shepard raised his gun while still backpedaling to fire a nearly solid cloud of shot into the beast's chest.
With a splattering sigh, the creature's body collapsed in on itself before crumpling to the ground in a soggy heap. Shepard reached up to wipe a drop of disgusting ichor off his chin with an unnerved frown. "Ok, yeah... that's just about the most awful thing I've ever seen." He muttered to himself before turning to his crew who looked equally as shocked and disturbed as he felt. "If it looks like that, put it down."
"Commander, look!" Tali exclaimed pointing to the concrete a few feet away from him which was rapidly liquifying under the vomit's acidic touch.
"No exceptions." He reaffirmed watching the sickening puddle gradually sag into the skyway's surface. "We can try to help the ones that still seem Human, but any that look like this get a one-way ticket to Hades. We clear?"
All but one answered in the affirmative. "Hades? Like Hades Gamma?" Tali asked.
Shepard sighed. "Yep... Hades Gamma..."
He could tell she was about to ask why, but a quick nudge from Ashley's elbow stopped her short. He resolved to explain what he meant once they were back on the ship and headed away from Feros. "Here we go. Watch each other's backs."
With that, he keyed open the massive door barring them access. He let out a heartfelt expletive when he saw dozens more mutated people jerking to their feet ahead of him. None of which had been present upon their departure from the colony's heart. This of course meant that they had been gathered together with a purpose in mind. That purpose ostensibly being to stop him, and his team, from poking their noses where someone, or something, didn't want them to. The weed knew he was coming, and had already set the table. It would be rude not to at least make an appearance.
Without a second thought, he worked the slide on his weapon and charged headlong into the shambling mutants. Bullets spattered chaotically into the writhing mass of limbs to scatter bits of bone and wet flesh in every direction. His shotgun boomed, adding its voice to the swirling cacophony accompanied by the visceral whip-crack of his biotics discharging. Before long, both fell silent as he started to rely more and more on his own fists, elbows, and knees to beat back the tide.
In hindsight, he admitted to himself that perhaps throwing himself into a throng of essentially unknown hostiles without softening them up first was somewhat imprudent. Raking claws, acidic vomit, and deathly howls all assaulted him from every angle as the walking corpses tried to roll him under with their sheer weight of numbers. They didn't appear very durable which was a definite advantage. A stern glare seemed enough to send them flying apart like gruesome party balloons filled with rotting fruit. The trouble arose when several lurched forward at once to swing their blade tipped fingers, or evacuate the contents of their guts like an obscene fountain.
He cursed his lack of foresight, but soldiered on through the forest of swinging limbs and bile waterfalls. Still, it felt good to let his body stretch a little after playing hide and seek with the Geth in Exo-Geni's building. Or was it cat and mouse? Regardless, he found his mood ever-so-slightly improved despite the acid eating away at his suit, and the blood weeping from a near miss above his left eyebrow. He almost smirked as the final, gelatinous zombie crumpled to the ground in front of him. His armor would be ruined by the time they returned to the Normandy, but damn if he didn't enjoy a good brawl instead of cowering behind chest high walls.
"Something funny, Commander?" Tali inquired as the crew moved on past the carnage he stood in.
He was aware that he was getting odd looks from the rest of his team, but didn't mind in the least. He knew he was crazy. They were all just starting to figure it out. "Felt good to cut loose a little. We've been playing peek-a-boo with the flashlights all day, so I couldn't pass up a chance at some good, old-fashioned fisticuffs... I mean, as close to fisticuffs as you can get duking it out with half-rotten shrub monsters..."
He stood contemplatively for a few moments trying to better articulate the feeling, but gave up with a shrug of his shoulders. He didn't notice her keen stare watching him intently as he turned to follow his companions.
His mood began to darken again as they slowly wound their way down through the network of stairwells and passageways that led back to the core of Zhu's Hope. They had quickly encountered non-mutated, but seemingly crazy, Humans on the way. However, those Humans still retained the ability to use firearms. Firearms that they had no qualms about using on his people.
"Maybe it's just me, but don't they seem a little less grateful than maybe they should be?" Kaidan sarcastically asked as he secured an unconscious colonist's wrists with medical tape.
"That's what we get for acting altruistically." Shepard grumbled. He would do everything he could to save anyone he actually could. However, doing so by playing a living target without a lethal response was grating on his famously short temper.
Eventually they broke back into the cordon of prefabs leaving a slew of what his people started calling "Creepers" and unconscious colonists in their wake. Somehow his team seemed to have a name for just about everything. He'd tried to float the idea of Sappers but ended up being shot down which also made him a bit cranky.
They fought their way deeper until reaching the derelict freighter that had been parked so as to cover a set of stairs winding down below the colony. The colonist's leader attempted to confront them, and subsequently blow his own head off in an act of defiance against the alien presence slithering through his mind, but a light tap from Wrex's balled-up fist proved enough to knock the hapless man into a blissful slumber.
"Well, I guess there's only one place left to go." Shepard said, resignedly. "Looks like most of the folks we spoke to earlier are accounted for, so I would guess nothing but Creepers down below."
He was about ready to split his team to finish up. While some would go down to finish trimming the hedges, the rest would stay topside to finish combing the colony and see to its residents once the fighting was done. Just before droning out designations, a thought occurred to him.
"Alright. Wrex, Kaidan, you're both coming with me. The rest of you, I want every civvy rounded up in case anything funny happens, and I want all of our stuff packed so we're ready to ship out as soon as we're done."
He received a few tired salutes in response to his own less than enthusiastic set of instructions. They were all thoroughly exhausted, himself included, however he still retained enough fire to nip a niggling question in the bud.
He started down the hidden staircase with his two biotic compatriots in tow. "So, Wrex... Interested in putting our little disagreement to rest?"
"Disagreement?" The Krogan asked incredulously.
"I believe you mentioned something about how a biotic juggernaut does it?"
Wrex cracked a half-smile. "Oh, that. I wouldn't want to tarnish our new leader's good name by trouncing him in a test of strength."
"Getting cold feet, are we?"
"Just giving you the chance to keep the dignity you already have. But if you're really itching to go toe to toe with a mercenary legend, who am I to argue?"
Shepard flashed a predatory grin. "Glad I could convince the legend to defend his title. How about it, Kaidan? You up for a little fun?"
The younger man solemnly nodded. "Don't know if I'll be able to keep up, but I'm game."
"Fantastic. Then here's the rules."
Wrex huffed at the imposition.
Shepard ignored him. "No firearms whatsoever. It's biotics and melee only. If you have to pull a gun, you're out. If someone has to save you, you're out. Winner is the one at the end with the most kills. We don't have any way to keep track, so you're on your honor not to lie about totals. Got that, legend?"
"As if I'd need to." Wrex grunted. "The stakes?"
Shepard tapped his chin. "Hmmm. Loser is on latrine duty for two weeks and will be given the title of 'princess'. Winner gets top-of-the-line, custom mods from Spectre requisitions the next time we're on the Citadel. They will also be referred to as 'sensei' by the losers until that happens. Deal?"
Wrex nodded with unflinching confidence. "Good stakes."
"Fair enough to me." Kaidan agreed, although hardly as comfortably as his Krogan counterpart.
Shepard made a solemn show of stowing his weapon. "Then may the best juggernaut win."
A fresh stream of adrenaline started to trickle through his veins as they continued down into the shadowed bowels beneath the colony. His blood itched for the action he knew was coming. This was the kind of thing he absolutely lived for. As his body was metaphorically screaming at him to get moving, the trio reached the bottom of the stairs and a large, multi-tiered chamber beyond.
"Now we just need to find out what kind of..." He started to say as his eyes caught sight of the supposed 'plant' they had come to exterminate. He stared disbelieving at the bulbous, pulsating mass suspended above a bottomless pit by enormous, fleshy tendrils. "Nothing is ever simple is it..."
"That's... interesting." Kaidan breathed equally at a loss.
"It stinks." Wrex grumbled.
Kraven was just opening his mouth to respond when an unsettling groan escaped from the creature's bloated body. The Commander's lips curled into a sneer of disgust as some viscous, yellow fluid started to ooze from what could only loosely be described as the beast's face. He nearly choked on rising bile as a pair of feet appeared between writhing tentacles followed shortly by the rest of an emerald-skinned Asari.
Kaidan must have noticed his adverse reaction to the spectacle. "You alright, Commander?"
Shepard shook his head and swallowed hard. "I just watched a cancerous potato give birth to a snot-soaked Asari. No, I'm most certainly not."
The shrub's progeny seemed not to notice the off-color comment. "Creature's of flesh and bone. You are within and before the Thorian. It demands you stand in awe."
"Um... I think we'll pass. Look we're in a bit of a rush so this will only take a minute. Basically, you've enslaved a group of innocent people as part of a misguided science experiment. Let them go, and your little servant there, and we'll see ourselves out." Shepard offered as some color started to return to his cheeks.
The Asari scoffed. "Fools. You are nothing more than tools to be used, and disposed of as seen fit. The flesh creature Saren also made demands of the old growth before setting the cold ones to destroy it. It will listen no more to those that scurry."
As soon as the Asari's first insult left her lips, Shepard pulled up his omni-tool. He nonchalantly scrolled through a list that displayed above his left arm until finding what he was looking for. Even as she finished speaking he started a stream of extremely old, and outdated music playing through his earpiece.
Again, she didn't seem to notice his actions before he returned his attention to the scowling woman. "Here's the thing. I'm tired, dirty, and more than a little sick of this rock. You get one more chance to change your mind or you get burned down to the root-rubbins. Last chance. Let these people go."
The Asari's face twisted into an enraged grimace. "Insolent insect! Die in ag..."
Her last word was abruptly cut short by Shepard's boot impacting her chest to send her careening into the darkness below. The massive Thorian roared in outrage as a chorus of sickening wails echoed from every corner of the chamber. In seconds, dozens of Creepers began to slither out of the woodwork to assault the trio.
"Game on!" Shepard shouted as his companions scattered. He unconsciously smiled as an antiquated copy of Free Bird continued to serenely drift through his audio pickups.
Shambling horrors lurched out of the darkness toward him with single minded determination. Off to his right, Kaidan was setting himself up to create a funneling kill zone. To his left, Wrex was aimlessly charging headlong into whatever got in his way. Confident that his team was capable of looking after themselves, Kraven re-centered his focus on the vomit brown wall of mutants roiling his way. 'Those two yahoos may be good, but I'll be damned if I let either one beat me.' The mere thought made him mad. The good kind. The kind that gets shit done.
He waited another few heartbeats until the tempo of the music shifted into high gear. In the same instant his own switch flipped as an intoxicating flood of adrenaline and endorphins spiked his blood. Azure fire sparked to life in a menacing corona all around his body as he recklessly launched himself forward into the gibbering tide. The results were both spectacular and disgusting.
Spongy limbs snapped off to cartwheel out in all directions. Skulls imploded, sending droplets of greenish ichor splattering across walls, floors, and even the ceiling. Acidic bile spewed into the air creating a choking miasma as bodies hit the deck with a pulpy smack. Through it all, Kraven Shepard could only hear the shredding guitar blaring in his ears, and see the red haze blanketing his vision. All he needed to know was that his brain was telling him that he was having fun, and to keep it up. No civvies to worry about, the team was out of the way and could handle themselves, and collateral damage was a non-issue. In essence, the perfect storm.
He laughed and launched himself into another gaggle of nasties to pummel them into foul smelling goo. Had he still had the presence of mind, he would have taken note of the different styles of combat on display around him, and assigned them a mental picture.
Wrex would have been a wrecking ball. Head down, charging in a straight line to bulldoze through thicker knots of Creepers before planting a massive foot to bash the stragglers with a wicked backhand. Kaidan, by contrast, would have been a waterfall. An endless stream of conflicting gravitational fields pulverizing and tearing wet flesh apart like tissue paper. Finally, if a casual observer had to describe Shepard's style, the most likely image would be one of a tornado. Every lightning-fast strike of his fists, feet, knees, and elbows brought with it an explosive burst of biotic energy. Three very different styles. All extremely effective in their own way..
Except when the Thorian unleashed its secret weapon. As Shepard was winding up to turn a Creeper's ugly mug into mashed potatoes, a powerful kinetic force slammed into him from the side. Before he could even comprehend what had happened, he was already halfway through a crumbling stone wall. He was painfully aware of his left shoulder dislocating as he hit the ground and tumbled to a stop, butted up against something at his back. Blood poured from his nose and mouth as he drunkenly staggered to his feet. He glimpsed jade flesh and glittering eyes through the hole he'd just made, and spat out a curse.
"Thought I'd killed you already." He wiped some of the blood from his face with the back of his working hand and set it on what he assumed was a piece of rebar jutting from a pile of rubble. "Well. Don't start what you can't finish, you damn hobgoblin."
He wrapped his fingers around the impromptu handle and yanked it free of its entrapment. It came loose much easier than it should have and, while it was still heavy, it didn't feel like he'd pulled a very large chunk of concrete off with it. Still, it was more than he could heft with a single arm, so he had to simply drag it on the ground behind him while his left arm hung limp at his side.
Even through the pain, and mental fog, he recognized a golden opportunity as he approached the new door he'd made. He poked his bloodied visage through the hole in the wall and plastered a maniacal grin over his face. His eyes met the resurrected Asari's. "Here's Johnny!" She probably wouldn't get the inexcusably dated reference, but he wasn't sure when another chance like that would come around again.
He bashed through the remnants of the crumbling wall to meet another throng of Creeper minions that were bearing down on him. Without a second's hesitation, he charged his already overheating biotics and catapulted himself on to meet them. As soon as his momentum carried him into his first adversary he swung his makeshift weapon in a sweeping, horizontal arc. His charge target flew apart upon impact, but the others standing at their zombie comrade's side were completely vaporized.
He didn't really notice as he advanced on the Asari who now had an oddly worried expression on her face. She started to backpedal, but he wouldn't let her off so easily. Again he charged his biotics to propel him toward her, but failed to register that his right arm was starting to feel lighter or that the burn from his amps had suddenly intensified. She threw out a concentrated ball of warp energy to deter him, but missed as he plowed into her with the force of a freight train. As she was violently thrown back he swung his makeshift weapon again. She instantly liquified as its leading edge bit into her body.
"I didn't think I hit her that hard…" He finally looked down at what he held in his hand as his neural implants started to overload. "Wait... When did I pick up a..." His vision went dark as he blacked out.