Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Someone was tapping on his crest.

Tap. Tap.

Mar opened an eye. Kara stood in front of him. "Yes?" he asked.

"Finished the translator, installed it in your helmet. I figure you're not gonna want your mug seen around here anyway, and it's easier than brain surgery."

"Thank you."

"No need. It was nice. I haven't programmed in ages. And besides, we haven't tested it yet. Don't want you saying 'hello' only for the program to say 'fuck you,' you know?" She looked at him a little longer. "Do you want to try it?"

He pushed himself up, and walked to his helmet. The geth was building a device in the corner of the room. It still looked like nothing he recognized, after a day and a half of noticing the geth building it.

He put his helmet on, and powered it up. Everything seemed to be the same on his HUD.

"Okay," Kara said, "can you say something?"

"What should I say?" Mar asked, hearing immediately afterwards "What should I say?" in a voice slightly dissimilar to his own.

"That's good. Synthesizer is close, though I could have it made closer." Kara paused, cracked a knuckle with her thumb, and continued, "Now, I also added a connection to cellular internet, because I was figuring out how to do it for my helmet and figured yours would make a good test case. I think Geth here uses something similar but I didn't ask him. Are you?"

"No, Kara. I am not. This area started going through development that was dropped shortly afterwards, but there are phone lines running through here. I have a connection that I port into," Geth responded.

"Huh. So I guess you're more advanced than that robot here," Kara said. She examined Mar's helmet from all angles. "I think I did good work. Nothing here is too visible. Can you turn on your omnitool, see if it connects? I implemented a local internet browser, it might work."

Mar activated his omnitool and the menu appeared in his helmet. He picked the new option, titled 'Internet Explorer'. He typed 'parahumans online', and it automatically went to a search engine called 'BING'.

"Does it work?" Kara asked.

"I think so," Mar responded, "did you do anything with the other functions?"

"Nope, left them completely untouched. If you want me to, I think I can add functions to your hammer," Kara said, a hopeful smile on her face. "You know, more electric yield, larger radius to your hammer blows, that sort of thing."

"No. This was enough."

"Can I do anything else?"

"No."

"Okay. I'm leaving my comm in my ear, let me know if you want anything." Kara left the storage unit. She was restless. It was a trait other races seemed to have, that they couldn't let things sit. Even the asari, living lives almost as long as a krogan's, could not just sit in peace.

Krogans were known for their rage, and single-mindedness, but Mar preferred to say krogans were decisive. Think of what you do, and once you can do it, act. Immediately. But until that point? Waiting had value. Patience was rewarded.

Right now, his problem was information. But he did have a source. A girl, human, who owed him her life. Someone who he could contact, and who knew enough to understand from a glance that he was not human, but not enough to understand not to speak of it. Such a person would be attracted by a riddle.

He started to type.


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Topic: To my friends on dogs

In: Boards ► Connections ► Brockton Bay

Hammer (Original Poster)

Posted on April 14, 2011:

You said you owed me one, and told me to contact you here. Come meet me where I live. Assuming you can figure it out.


Geth looked at him. "Are you inviting someone here?"

Tells were important. All living things had them. And the machine lacked them completely.

But some tells were obvious. It was displeased.

"I can't very well travel in this city looking like this," Mar said.

"You know better than to do this."

Mar did not respond. He closed his eyes.

Time passed in silence, the geth continuing its work. Apparently, this wasn't the only work it had done. It had committed some form of heist, along with two minor criminals from this world, who hosted an entertainment show. Mar watched the video. Was this human humor? This was terrible. Not a single drop of blood was shed. When the clip ended, he watched more videos by the two minor criminals. Über and Leet. Über appeared to be a word from another language on this world, while Leet seemed to be a nonsense name.

If he was to interact with people in this world, he would need a name that fit their conventions. Gavel? Taken. Relentless? Maybe.

There was a knock on the storage unit door, then it slowly opened. A human adolescent stood there. A girl.

The geth had its Javelin to her throat before anyone could react. A whistle sounded, and three dogs ran in. They jumped onto the geth, latching on to it, and started pulling. It didn't move. Electricity coursed through its body and to the dogs. They fell, convulsing and whimpering. Another girl ran in, and stopped. The geth had its arm extended in her direction, fire shooting out only inches from her face. Two others ran behind, both boys, one on the cusp of adulthood. The geth wagged one finger at them, and they stopped in place.

"Understand. If you tell anyone what you see here, I will come after you," the geth said to the children.

The girl gulped. "Understood."

Mar shut his translator off, and stood up. "If you kill her, I will shatter you."

The red bulb pointed towards him, and narrowed. Finally, the geth turned to the other children. "Leave."

Mar switched his translator back on, and said, "We will talk by the sea?"

"Fine by me," the girl said, and walked out. Mar placed his hammer in its place on his back, and followed her. The geth observed them momentarily, and turned back to its project.

The sky was cloudy, the sunrise's beams barely penetrating the heavy layer that filled the skies. It would probably rain later today. It had been a while since he stood in the rain. It would be nice to swim, maybe.

The girl motioned to the others. Only the oldest one followed them, while the other two stayed back. The girl fussed over the dogs.

"What did you want me to see?" she asked him.

"You understood I am not from this planet from seeing me. You knew I couldn't speak, before I said a word," Mar said.

"I've got a power," the girl said, "it lets me-"

"I understood that much. Tell me, did you understand what the geth is building?" Mar asked.

"Geth… that's the robot's name?"

"Its species. Did you understand what it was building?"

"No. I could look again, if you want." She seemed… hopeful.

"I do not want your deaths on my conscience. Do not make that foolish mistake."

"We've come to hire you," the boy said, puffing out his chest. He was large, for a human who had not finished growing. Probably for one who was, as well. Still, he was so… small. In so many ways. Including the desire to be large, and prove himself.

"You have?" Mar asked. He'd left his fishing kit out, but no one had stolen it. He'd remembered being advised that the fishing was best in the beginning of rains, before the cold truly hit.

"We're going to rob a bank today. We're going to go, the four of us, but I thought having more muscle would be better," the boy said.

"What are the terms?" Mar asked.

"Everything we steal, we get double the value of. We've got a sponsor, who wants us to do this job. It should be easy, since a lot of the heroes are at an official function, but we'll probably only need to face a few members of one hero team." He rubbed his head, and looked towards the girl. "Assuming Lisa's intel is right."

"I brought us here, didn't I?" the girl snapped. Her name was Lisa, then.

"She's usually right," the boy said. That had been planned – he knew his team mate well enough to get the appropriate response. He'd be a good leader, when he grew. "Will you help us?"

"You are going to some place where you will likely meet resistance, and you would like my aid?" Foolish. "And if I say no?"

"The heist is happening this afternoon. We saw your message, and decided to try to get you onboard, but… we're doing this." The boy looked at Lisa while saying the last part. Was there a disagreement, there? "Do we have your help?"

He knew better than to agree. Or he thought he did. "You have it."

"Good. Let me tell you the plan?" At his nod, Grue continued.


Human vehicles were small. And this was one of the large ones. Mar sat at an angle, leaning sideways, his armor scratching the ceiling. On the bench behind him were three dogs and their mistress, whom he had learned was called Rachel, her callsign was Bitch. She had her arms on them, ensuring their docility. She caught his look, and looked back at him through a dog mask. Next to him was Alec, the youngest of them, whose callsign was Regent. He was fidgeting, obviously uncomfortable in the little amount of space that Mar had left him. He was focused on some form of digital entertainment. In the front sat Lisa, or Tattletale, driving the van, and Brian. Grue. Their leader.

Machismo, or what passed for it in humans. The drive to prove himself, to be a man. The lack of maturity, presenting itself as an intense desire for maturity. To present himself as an adult, as a leader. The greatest mark of a child who needs protection.

They hadn't elaborated on who the heroes would be. All they had said was it would be from the Wards team, but they weren't sure who. Mar internally debated looking it up, but decided not to.

The terms of their sponsor made no sense. They had phrased it like a competition, or a game, but the anticipation of violence made no sense. Not even krogans treated violence this callously. There was more to this. What made more sense is that the sponsor was a criminal himself, who wanted them to commit a crime in midday to draw attention.

In which case, he could not allow these children to come to harm for their naivete.

The van slowed, and stopped.

"Everybody ready?" Tattletale asked, placing her mask on her face. "Okay, exactly as planned. Let's go be bad guys."

The door of the van inched open, the electrical mechanism struggling with the weight. Finally, Bitch grabbed it and pulled it open with a snap of some component breaking. "Are you getting out?"

Mar pulled out of the vehicle, and into a cloud of darkness. It felt… thick. It dulled all his senses, even the faint humming of his biotic ability. Tattletale's instructions stayed with him – step out in a straight line, four steps, then smash the wall with his hammer. He put his hand forward – there was a wall there. Good. He charged his hammer biotically, reared back, spun his hammer once experimentally and then brought it against the wall. He felt the wall give way, and ran in. He left the cloud of darkness to find people staring at him in a panic. He laughed, allowing it to boom in the room.

"Everybody down, or you get the same fate as the wall," Tattletale shouted from behind him. People still stood, stunned. "This is a robbery! If you lie down, none of you will be harmed. We won't take anything from you. We're only going to steal from the bank. Don't get in our way, and he won't get in yours."

Grue, Regent, and Bitch followed her in.

At her motion, Mar took a step. People whimpered, and most fell to their feet. One girl remained standing. White, with brown hair. Not an adult.

This would be problematic.

"Sit down, girl," Mar said. He moved the hammer close to her, almost touching her with its head. "This will not harm you, and will be over soon."

She sat down and continued to glare at him.

Bitch's dogs, now the large monsters he had first seen, bounded over and started to sniff the hostages. This was his signal – follow Regent to the vault door, and smash it open. They took a flight of stairs, Regent pointing with his stick at the vault door, a large circle with four different electric safeties the children – the Undersiders, as they called themselves – had researched before finding an easier solution.

It crushed easily, a blue flash accompanying the immense biotic energies released.

The room itself was smaller than the large door would have you believe, with hundreds of small boxes in the walls. Tattletale pushed by Mar, into the room, looking at her hand. She'd taken off her glove and written numbers on her hand. She started to look at the boxes, finding appropriate ones, pulling out keys, opening them, taking their contents, and putting them in a duffel bag. Mar left the room, climbed up the stairs, and went back into the main hall where Bitch and Grue stood watch over the hostages.

"How long?" Grue asked him.

"We've been six minutes," Mar replied, looking at the number on his HUD. 14:18.

The wall smashed open, and something hit Mar, ramming him against a wall. He swung his hammer at it quickly, a biotic blast flinging it against the floor.

It was a girl.

A human adolescent.

Like the ones he came in with.

Lying senseless. Not breathing.

"Victoria!" the angry hostage screamed out and ran to her. Five heroes came in, each in an outfit, but stopped in their tracks.

As Mar looked, the hostage placed her hand on the one who attacked him, and her chest started moving normally. He could see the bones shift back to place. That was good.

But he'd done it.

He'd almost killed a child.

And the heroes who came in… they were small. They all looked so small.

These Wards… they were children.

Tattletale had hid it from him. She'd known, and she hid it from him.

He couldn't do this. He couldn't protect children. Not from other children. Not from himself.

He charged his hammer with electricity, more than he ever had, and slammed it on the ground. Even his suit's shielding couldn't stop the flow, and he felt it course through his muscles, only his reflexes stopping him from spasming. His hammer's head shattered. He placed it on the slot on his back. He should have been upset it was destroyed.

Everyone in the room was stunned, twitching, except for one of the heroes, a flying one wearing red and white. Mar started to walk out through the hole they entered from.

"Stop right there," the hero said. Mar ignored him, continuing to walk. He wouldn't fight a child. "Stop, I said!"

The streets were cordoned off, with police forces standing behind tape, their sirens playing and officers pushing people away. Three men saw him come out of the bank and aimed their pistols at him. Mar focused his biotic energies, and released a shockwave in their direction. The blast threw both officers and vehicles away. He started to run. He didn't look back.


He reached the docks, huffing. The hint of rain from this morning had become a storm, making it harder to see, pouring into the small cracks in his armor. Fitting, he thought.

He needed to know. Had the children survived?

He'd been stupid, overloading his hammer like that. Foolish. Idiotic. He'd lost his weapon. If any of the people there were weak, he would have killed them. Maybe he did.

He sat down, and pulled out what remained of his hammer. Parts of the head were still there.

He opened his web browser, typing in "brockton bay news." The heroes were local celebrities, if one of them were to die the news site would be full of it.

His first glance was a relief. He allowed himself to breathe normally, and smiled. There had been one death, which the news wasn't naming. A man in his seventies.

But that was secondary news. The main news was something called an "amber alert". A child had been abducted.

He looked through it. It was completely fresh. She had been abducted at 14:18, seen being forced into a van.

He recognized the time. The alarm had been going off for a few minutes, and she'd been in the neighborhood. Police forces had been preoccupied.

Because of him.

Because of him, doing a job that he'd known was a diversion.

This was his fault.

He roared, and smashed what remained of his hammer onto the concrete ground. Cracks formed, and the destruction of his hammer's head was completed.

He took off his helmet, and threw it. Screamed. It didn't help.

He sat down put his head in his hands.

This was his fault.