Much to Andrew's expectation it had taken him a week to begin nearing anywhere near normal from the injuries he sustained whilst in Jack's mind, but he was well on the way to recovery when the young woman was brought out of her coma just eight days after releasing her biotics. Andrew watched as she stirred, and then slowly open her eyes to the dim room that she was lying in, and she looked around with a confused expression before peering up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Are we in my mind?"
He shook his head with a warm smile; squeezing her hand. "Nah, you're out now. Everything went okay; your amp's gone." He watched her reach to her ear and smile. "And from what I can sense all of your power's spread evenly around your body, which is what we wanted."
It was then she caught sight of the splint his leg was in and she looked into his eyes with a raised eyebrow. "Did it hurt?"
"Tickled," he shot right back and she gave him a wide grin.
"Good; I don't want no fucking pussy for a partner."
He gave her a mock frown, "Now that's nowhere near sappy enough Jack, I think we can migrate past 'partners' and go to 'boyfriend and girlfriend', don't you?" Her scowl was answer enough and he gave a chuckle before nodding amiably, "Alright, partners it is… in fact that's why you like it." At her confused expression he looked away innocently and said, "Because it sounds more like we're married, yeah?"
A huge, red blush rocketed onto her cheeks and he gave a yelp when she hammered her fist right into his shoulder. He felt the entire limb go numb with the force of the punch but gave a laugh anyways. "Fucker," she muttered with the blush still on her cheeks, and he just squeezed her hand in return before shuffling around to get more comfortable. "So what now?"
"Well now's the hardest part, and that's training you to utilize your biotics without your amp. By the end of it all you'll notice you can make your mass effect fields do things you thought previously impossible, and that it's a whole lot more powerful to boot."
"Sounds pretty fucking good to me."
"Jack, punching somebody in the face on live holovision sounds good to you." She gave a sheepish grin and he rolled his eyes with a smile. They sat like that for nearly an entire hour before Andrew spoke, and she could tell that even though he was saying the words and meant them, it was still hard. "Hey… I meant what I said about this whole relationship Jack; if you think it's going too fast then just say so. I mean, it's only been a couple of weeks together and… you've changed so much - not that I'm complaining," he assured her before she could interrupt, "in fact I really like the new you. You smile, and you're… lighter, and I like that a lot, but it's so different from what you've been for the last twenty three years, and I can't help but wonder if you're just faking it."
Her expression darkened slightly, but she nodded her understanding and didn't release his hand, which made him feel a little better. "I know," she murmured, "… and I am faking it a little. You're… you're the first person who's ever wanted me for me, and who's wanted me to be happy, and… well I just thought that if I was a bit more normal you'd like me more."
"Jack, I don't want normal; I want you, so cut the acting out and be yourself. Don't force yourself to change; just let it happen naturally, if it happens at all, 'kay?"
She gave a smile and a nod, "Got it… and thank you."
He shook his head and squeezed her hand once more before standing and stretching with a groan, "No problem. You want something to eat? It's been over a week since we put you under."
Both heard her stomach growl, and she looked up at him with a smirk. "I think that means go and get me some fucking food, Fucker."
His grin nearly split his face, "Fuck you too Jack."
The music of Chora's Den pulsed around the two hidden in a shadowed booth like a whirlwind, and two sets of eyes looked out upon the dance floor where dancers twisted and moved; the majority of them completely off their faces on Hellex or Mex and getting groped if they were women, or pickpocketed if they were men. "Fucking weak," commented the one on the left as they sipped on a glass of neon-purple drink, and the second nodded their agreement when he saw one particularly high patron not notice when one of the thieves lifted up their arm, tapped firmly at their wrist to remove the Omni-chip, and then walk away Goddess knows how many credits richer.
"You ever done drugs?" The one on the right asked, and their companion, clearly a woman when her lips came to suck on the straw in her glass, shook her head.
"Nup, Cerberus fucked me enough without me adding to it all. I like my head as clear as it can be. What about you Fucker?"
Andrew had learned in the last couple of days that 'Fucker' was an endearment from Jack that she reserved only for him, and had watched as Kar had discovered that 'bitch bucket' was not an endearment… and that he had gained it as a permanent title. "Nope," he replied as he sipped at his own glass, "not once… well apart from alcohol but that doesn't really count eh?" It was a rhetorical question, and Jack just sat back and waited. "Seen a lot though; pretty common in the school I went to. Fucked a lot of people up, and I had no desire to follow in their footsteps."
"Good."
"Yep, I thought so." He took another sip and then motioned to the barkeep who came over to listen to Andrew's whispered request in his ear. After a nod and a quick transfer of funds had occurred he turned back to Jack and leant forwards. "Right, so this is training 101 for the time being." She lit up at the mention of training, and he grinned as the Turian barman returned holding a pack of cigarettes in his hand and a lighter, which he threw to Andrew before returning to his post at the main counter. In answer to her confused and slightly disgusted expression, he explained. "The main thing about us now is not how much power we hold, but the control we have over it. We can do some fucking amazing things now, and all you've got to do is learn how to use them." He handed her a cigarette, which she took with a look of distain, and then picked up one himself. "First thing we can do is create a mass effect field inside our bodies. We can filter out things we don't want, increase strength and speed, distort out visibility - which'll be useful for you because you have no invisibility implants like I do - and a whole other number of things by creating fields around certain parts of our bodies. This is lesson one; how to shield your lungs from contaminants. I'll be honest; I hate smoking, and that's why this is such a good thing to practice with… and from the look on your face it'll work well for you too."
"I fucking hate these death sticks Fucker."
"I figured," he returned with a small smirk as his cigarette and took a puff, "so listen up, else you're going to be tasting the damn things and sucking in smoke to tar up your lungs. You ever studied the human anatomy? What the respiratory system is like?" She shook her head and he brought up a program on his Omni-tool, pointing out the process. "So we suck air in through our nose and mouth, heads down here, our windpipe, branches off into our lungs, and then oxygen gets taken into our blood through these tiny little sacs. What you're about to do is cover the inside of your mouth, windpipe, and lungs with a mass effect field that'll only allow air through it."
"Andy," she drawled, "I haven't been able to feel my biotics since I woke up."
"That's because you're looking for your nodules… and you don't have any now."
"Well then how the fuck am I supposed to use biotics?" she growled at him, panic rising, and he leant across to grip her hand with his.
"What'd I say Jack?"
She looked into his eyes for several seconds before squeezing his hand and giving a small sigh. "You'll never stab me in the back. Alright, how do I do it?"
He smiled and then retrieved his hand to close the program on his Omni-tool. He shuffled around so he was sitting right next to her and wouldn't have to yell over the music. "Okay, this place is perfect to find it - the pulsing music is just right. Close your eyes." She did so and started taking deep breaths, and he gave her a smile despite the fact that she couldn't see. "Now just focus on the beat and what I say, that's all; there's nothing else." He gave her five minutes, and then spoke once more. "The air around you, focus on it. Feel it as you breathe it in; feel the thickness and the way it tastes; the way it moves in your lungs. Forget what you've felt before; you're different now; feel the way that it is - you can literally feel what it looks like, and what it tastes like; how big each molecule is, what shape it is."
Slowly her breathing got deeper, and he nodded to himself after another five minutes. "Now focus on the pulse again, and feel the pulse, but also look for the source of the power in the pulse; what makes it move the air." Another five minutes, "Have you found it?" A nod. "Good, now see the pulse; each one as a bubble that contains the power. Feel the pulse in your veins; feel your veins fill with those bubbles' power." Another nod, this one accompanied by a smile, "Now concentrate those bubbles into your lungs, feel them take up all the space in your lungs until you can't breathe, and then flatten those bubbles against the sides of your lungs so that they make one big bubble; a shield around your lungs." He saw her breathing stop, and a look of worry appear on her face. "Now think of the air, think of the bubble shield making holes for the air, but nothing else; just the air. They open when each molecule comes near, and then close as soon as they have gone through." Her breathing started again, and a look of triumph came over her face.
"Now the hard part; open your eyes, come back into the club, but keep that field around your lungs; protecting them."
Her eyes fluttered open, and immediately they filled with frustration as she felt the field collapse and disappear. "Fuck!"
He gave a laugh and nodded, "Tough, isn't it?"
She growled and then closed her eyes with a stubborn look on her face, "Again!"
And so he led her through it all over again, and again and again she failed to maintain the field when her concentration was split over all the elements of reality. After three hours she groaned and slammed her head against the table, or would have had Andrew not slipped his hand underneath it at the last moment. Raising her head from his hand she leant back and gave a frustrated growl. "Why the fuck can't I just do it? It can't be that hard."
"It actually is," he laughed, "think about it Jack; Asari take years to learn how to use Fortify, and that's easy compared to this, because you're manipulating a mass effect field within the vessel, your body, that contains your Eezo supply."
"Well where the fuck is my Eezo supply? I don't have fucking nodules anymore!"
"It's in every single cell in your body," he grinned, "and your body is constantly producing more of it, as well as drawing it from the environment. From what I can gather, and from my research, you and I are the only two beings in the Universe that have managed to achieve a self-sustaining biotic force."
"Holy shit," she said as her eyes widened, "are you fucking kidding me?"
"…No, no I'm not," he admitted, "and the whole thing gives a new… dimension to the whole humanity debate. I took a sample of my cybernetic muscle tissue a while ago, and when I took it out of my body it was normal; just like it should be, but when I did a study while it was still inside my body, each nucleus was surrounded by a mass effect field. About a year back I had some free time and spent six weeks in bed with a probe in my leg monitoring the cells around it."
"Well that was fucking stupid; how the fuck did you not go batshit crazy? Lying around for six weeks?"
"It was not fucking stupid," he protested, "in fact I found out something pretty flipping amazing if you ask me." She cocked her head to the side and he grinned, "Turns out that cells that were meant to only last a couple of days instead lasted around four weeks, and when they died and created a new cell to replace them, the nucleus and DNA in the daughter cell was completely identical."
She looked at him blankly and he searched for an appropriate metaphor, but discovered that because of modern technology he didn't have the best one, but settled for a reasonable explanation. "Okay, if you get six hundred humans in a line and tell the first one a sentence, and then that sentence gets whispered to the next person, and the next person, and the next until it reaches the last, do you think the message will be the same?"
"Fuck no," she snorted, and he grinned.
"Exactly, and it's the same principal with cell reproduction. Corruption of DNA occurs in a cell because of chemical imbalance, movement, random errors, and other factors, and so the daughter cells are less perfect than the parent cells… give that a hundred years and your DNA's getting pretty shabby, and that's why we age. He gave her a minute to absorb what he had said and then grinned, "And that protective field, well that eliminates chemical imbalance, movement, and the majority of 'other factors', and that just leaves us with random errors, which would suggest…"
It took about ten seconds of frowning, but finally her eyes widened until she looked ridiculous. He had to admit however, that he hadn't been much better when he'd made the discovery, in fact he'd been running around his apartment whooping and yelling for nearly five minutes before he'd calmed down enough to realize that the probe was still sticking out of his leg and he'd been bleeding all over the carpet. "No fucking way…"
"Yes fucking way," he assured her with a huge grin, "the errors were cut down by over eight hundred percent if I go with random error included, which means multiply our lifespans by eight."
"Andrew?"
He cocked his head, "Yeah?"
"I fucking love you right now; maybe not romantic love… yet, but I fucking love you."
Jack was puffing on a cigarette like it was a dehydrated man's water, and Liara was looking at the biotic with no small amount of disgust. Andrew, knowing why the young woman was looking so chuffed as she sucked down the smoke, instead paid attention to the absolutely stunning, and he had to admit arousing, sight in front of him. Jack was lying out on the deck in front of the pool; reclined on one of the sun chairs that surrounded it, but it wasn't her location that had Andrew staring, it was what she was wearing. A blood-red bikini top covered her breasts, and although he has seen her wearing just a strap for quite some time, there was just something about the bikini top that had him positively drooling; and she was wearing a pair of board shorts that came to mid-thigh in matching colours - the overall outfit showing off far, far more of her tattooed skin than any of her other outfits ever had.
"That's very unhealthy Andrew," she murmured so that only he could hear, "with such consumption her chances of suffering from lung cancer are increased by over fifteen percent, and respiratory problems will onset within the next year or two."
He waved the Asari maiden off with a shake of his head, "Nah, she'll be okay."
"Andrew, I must insist-"
"Liara," he cut her off with a reassuring smile, "she'll be fine, trust me. It's another one of those things."
It only took her a second. "It is to do with what happened in the basement three weeks ago, is it not?" He gave a noncommittal shrug, and she frowned. "Andrew, your biotics are above what I have ever before experienced," 'Yeah, and you think you've seen me at full noise too, don't you?', "and you have both control and power matching the most experienced Matriarchs in our race. Such information of how you achieved such a thing could revolutionise biotics!"
"And also lead to more wars," he interrupted, "because if everybody was as powerful as I am, and as Jack soon will be, then imagine the chaos Liara. There'd be wars more violent and destructive than you could imagine. The damage human biotics have done in wars has been immense, and generally we're about twenty times less powerful than an Asari matriarch at best… imagine the damage that could be done with a battlefield of Matriarch-level biotics Liara, or stronger... like I am. I've decided that I am going to keep the method of unlocking potential strictly within my family, and nothing will sway me from that decision."
"But Jack-"
"Is special," he interrupted before pulling her inside so that there was no chance of him being overheard. "Liara… I'm falling in love with Jack." Her eyes widened, but he forged on, "And I don't care whether people look down on us or what, but I think she's starting to fall for me too. She won't say until she's ready, but the way she acts when we're just alone is completely different from how she acts when we're in view of you, Kar, and anybody else. Liara, she lets me hold her hand," he saw her eyebrows rise in surprise, and no small amount of shock, "and every night before she goes to bed she comes into my room and we just talk, and then she hugs me before she leaves… and she lets me kiss her forehead."
"Sh- Jack initiates intimate touches?" He never thought he'd see Liara ruffled, and yet this revelation seemed to do the trick.
"Yes, she does, and when I kiss her goodnight she smiles at me Liara; an innocent, happy smile, and I know that nobody else has ever seen her like that but me. I'm pretty sure she's falling for me Liara, and so I consider her family… even if we never get married, I don't think we could be any less than friends, and I have a feeling that even that would never be enough. She's smoking six packs a day because it's an achievement. Not one single molecule of tar is sticking in her lungs; not one molecule of smoke is even touching any part of her insides because she's projecting a mass effect field inside her respiratory system to prevent it."
"T-that's impossible, Andrew; such a thing has never been done."
"Well I was the first, and now Jack is the second. Stick us in a room with poisonous gas and we'll both be perfectly fine, and next I'm going to move her onto shielding her mind to prevent indoctrination by Reapers… or anybody else. I know from experience that it can rebuff an Ardat-Yakshi with the way my mind is shielded, and easily." Liara looked astonished, and Andy grinned, "Look Liara, I don't even think your race can do what we've done. Your race draws dark energy from around them; your advanced neurological systems allowing you to utilize the energy to its maximum efficiency. Jack and I have billions of nodules of Eezo in us which not only allow us to store dark energy, but also act as magnets for latent dark energy around us; allowing us to put absurd amounts to use. Most human biotics lack the neurological and nervous systems to use it to even a fraction of its potential, but Jack and I are different. We're a race, essentially, unto ourselves, and if you like us then you'll keep very, very quiet about the full extent of our powers, because no matter how high on a pedestal you hold your race, or the others, they will try and take us once more, and they will experiment on us until we're dead."
She blanched at his words, but averted her eyes after his stare became too intense to return. She nodded after a moment. "I understand Andrew… and although I dislike admitting the flaws of the Council races I agree; should your abilities come to light I believe you would most certainly disappear and never be seen again. I will keep your secret with my life."
His expression relaxed and he nodded before holding out his hand. She looked at it strangely and he manipulated her hand into his so that he could shake it. "It's called a handshake; it's a human gesture of respect, trust, and comradery. I appreciate you keeping it a secret Liara, because although I would hate to be experimented on, I couldn't live with myself if I knew that Jack had been taken for that reason… especially after what she's been through." She saw the murderous expression in his eyes and was taken aback, even slightly frightened at the hatred it held, but relaxed when he shook it off and his eyes lightened again as he let her hand go and made to head out towards the chair beside Jack.
He himself was wearing a pair of board shorts and a sweatshirt, and he smirked as he pulled the latter off and lay down without looking over at her. He heard a quiet hiss, and then a yelled, "Goddamnit FUCK!" that quickly followed the almost imperceptible whiff of burnt skin. He looked over at Jack who had just swiped the cigarette off her chest where it had fallen from her slack jaw, and then watched as she looked at his torso once more where the warm, chocolate eyes of a white phoenix seemed to bore into her. "When the fuck did you get a tattoo?"
He gave her a grin, "About a week ago. I wanted to wait until the redness went down before I showed you it."
The tattoo came into its own when his arms were by his side, as the bird's head came over his shoulder to rest on his left pectoral, and the rest of its body was mainly on his back and down the entirety of his left arm. He'd taken to wearing long-sleeved shirts since he'd gotten it, but now that it was healed and revealed he'd enjoy wearing t-shirts again. Its talons ended right at his waistline - seemingly standing on the top of his shorts for support, and it's incredibly detailed body curved right up his back; its right wing tucked into its body, but its left one leaving at his shoulder and covering his arm almost as if to protect it. His favourite feature however, had to be its face, and its eyes. It'd taken him a couple of days to track down the best tattoo artist on the Citadel, and it had cost him a pretty penny to get the thing done, but the Asari who had done his ink had more than lived up to her reputation. Its eyes were exactly the same shade that Jack's were, and its expression was filled with determination, battle-weariness, and yet shone with life.
"Andy… that's fucking beautiful."
He smiled and nodded. "Thanks."
He noticed that her eyes strayed over the rest of his finely muscled body under the pretence of looking at the tattoo but didn't comment. "But what the fuck possessed you to get a tat?"
"Honestly? You did. I'd been thinking about getting one for a while, but I didn't know what to get… and it kinda makes sense that I get a phoenix. See, it reminds me of you… and me, kinda."
"You got a tattoo… because of me?" Her voice was strong, but anybody that knew her well, and Andy knew her better than anybody else in the 'verse, could tell that she was deeply moved by the act. The reason she wasn't showing it was because they were outside. The only place she felt comfortable showing more of herself was in hers or his quarters in the house, or their quarters on the Icharus.
He nodded in response. "Yeah. I mean, you were trapped - hell Jack, you were pretty much fucking dead when I first met you." He noted absentmindedly that he'd been swearing a lot more since he'd started hanging with Jack, but didn't count it as a bad thing - everyone had their quirks, and he wasn't perturbed by the fact he was exhibiting one of hers. "Not physically, but mentally. You were a shell, but then you got better. In a way you were reborn from the ashes, and I liked that imagery, hence the phoenix. It resonates with me as well; I mean Cerberus took everything from me, experimented on me, and then threw me out… and now look at me: I own one of the most exclusive apartments on the Citadel, I've got my own ship, I've got a well-balanced crew, and, yes I know it sounds like I'm being a 'fucking pussy'," he emphasized with air-quotes to make his point, "but above all I've got the best goddamn girlfriend I think I could have. I was reborn as well; given a second chance, and I'm making the best of it."
"…That's deep Fucker."
He shrugged, "It's what I feel." He looked to her cigarettes and biotically flung them over the fence to the next apartment's garden. "And stop fucking smoking. I know you're proud, and I am too, but seriously Jack, you smell of the fucking things all the time, and it really turns me off."
There was silence for a moment, and then a murmured "Sorry," after which he looked over at her and smiled. "Like I said Jack, I'm hellish proud you managed to get it down… but I like how you normally smell, that and I just fucking loathe cigarettes."
Another silence, and then, "How do I normally smell?"
"Sweet," he replied as he soaked in some of the artificial sunrays; confident and assured that his body would prevent any melanomas from popping up, "sweaty, but in a good way. You smell like you work hard, but you never stink. And you have a wee hint of cheery about you - fucked if I know where that scent came from, but it's how you smell to me."
She didn't comment, but that just told him that she'd liked what he'd said and didn't see the point in taking it any further, in 'public view' at least. He wouldn't be surprised if it was the topic of conversation at a later date in one of their chats in their respective quarters. "So what's next?"
"Shadow Broker," he murmured, enjoying the warmth of the artificial sun on his skin, "Liara's just waiting on a new hack-tool that'll cut down infiltration time by half, and I've tracked where the illusive little fucker's hiding, which is good. Found a couple of his bugs in the house," he jabbed his thumb back towards the luxury apartment, but his eyes were closed so he missed the worried look in Jack's eyes. "Knew as soon as they entered. EMP'd the wee bastards the moment the operative left, so he's interested, but he'll be shocked to shit when he gets to meet us face to face. As will all of you. Ever heard of a Yahg?" He gave time for her to shake her head, his eyes still closed, and gave a grin to himself, "We'll you'll see one of the ugly things in a few days. Strong as hell, huge, and have a small affinity for biotics. Thing is, when we defeat him all his operatives are going to be wondering what the hell happened. The Shadow Broker is legendary for intel, and letting a source like that go? Stupid, so I've built a program that'll allow you, me, Kar, and Liara act as the new 'Shadow Broker'."
"…You're fucking kidding me, right? Me? You're giving me that kind of power?"
"Sure," he replied easily and with a smile, "you should know by now that I trust you."
She shook her head and then lay back down on the chair, "I still say you're fuckin' mental, but whatever."
"Yep, well that's part of the requirements of being part of my crew; at least partially insane. I swear; there's a checkbox on the application."
She snorted with laughter and he grinned. "So we kill this Yahg or whatever, and then what?"
He looked over at her. "You were planning on sticking 'round then?"
She looked over at him, and he saw her eyes soften slightly. "Andy… 'course I'm staying."
He smiled. "Good."
Hagalaz: a planet that held an extreme on either side. In the sun earth temperatures rocketed to over one hundred degrees Celsius; bringing the seas to a boil until they snap-froze during the night where it fell to below negative sixty. And right on the precipice of the day and night was the Shadow Broker's ship; a huge, advanced construct that used the lightning around it to power the engines and keep it flying on the crest of a constant sunrise.
"Ah, Commander, that's a freaking huge ship."
"Yep," Andy shot back as he slipped his shotgun onto his back, "it is. Now you're going to need to get us close enough to drop onto it so we can rappel down."
"She's going to be pretty rough," warned their pilot as Jack, Liara and Andy stepped into the airlock, and the latter gave a knowing nod.
"I know, but you'll get us down there just fine Kar-"
"Oi, bitch bucket," yelled Jack, "you fuck this up and I'm going to come back from the dead and shoot your arse full of lead, you hear me?"
A deep sigh was the answer, followed by a familiar, "Yes Jack."
Andy looked over at his girlfriend and rolled his eyes with a humoured grin and she grinned back, but with her entire expression tainted with excitement and bloodlust. They felt a jolt as they entered the atmosphere of the planet and Andy pulled his recon mask over his head before sealing it; his two comrades following suit. They'd all decided to go with the same masks, as not only did it conceal their identities but it also provided an incredible degree of protection from the elements, as well as visual and aural enhancements that improved combat effectiveness. Andy also had another reason for choosing it as well. He scrolled through a huge, seemingly never-ending list on his Omni-tool, much to the curiosity of his companions, before tapping on a particular entry - and a second later Black Sabbath was blasting into his ears.
He connected Jack into the same playlist, and a moment later he saw the mask move slightly, signifying a deadly grin underneath the ballistic weave. When Liara cocked her head to the side both him and Jack looked at each other, turned to her, and shook their heads in complete unison; they doubted she'd appreciate the heavy rock as they blasted their way to victory. Five minutes later all three of them shot downwards; their rappel lines swinging wildly in the violent winds as Kar did his darndest to keep the ship steady above them. Throwing all caution to the wind, quite literally in fact, Andrew let go of his line about twenty meters above the ships surface, and then quickly junctioned his biotics into the muscle fibres in his legs. He hit the metallic surface with a thud and then quickly looked up before using pull on both Liara and Jack; propelling them directly towards him where they landed with dual thuds a moment later, teetering wildly for a moment as they tried to regain their balance. The moment they were all clear of the lines Kar pulled the ship upwards to head back into orbit, and Andrew turned to his two teammates, grinned, and then pulled his assault rifle.
Liara was apparently shaking off the shock of Andy jumping from twenty meters, into gale-force winds, and surviving not only the fall but actually landing on the ship, while Jack came over and punched him in the shoulder… hard. Her voice came crackling into his ear a moment later, and he could almost see her glare through the glowing blue eyepieces in her mask, "Don't ever do shit like that again without warning me Andy."
"Sorry," he murmured, and her hand which was resting on his shoulder gave a squeeze before she released him and pulled her shotgun from the magnetic rack on her back. Andy took a moment to link his biotics to both Jack and Liara so he'd know where they were at all times on the battleground and then took point. Their journey up the ship was almost too easy, just like the game. There were copious points of cover, lightning rods which they could electrocute their enemies with, and they were flying tens of kilometres above the surface of the planet, which ensured that any opponent that fell victim to a throw would not be in action ever again. The only thing Andy could find that was different about the real version of the mission was that it took them far, far longer to get to the entrance to the inside of the ship; nearly two entire hours. The retraction mechanisms did not move stuff out of their way in mere seconds as they had on the game, rather painfully slow minutes, and the ship seemed so much larger than it ever had on a mere screen - not just by looks, but apparently by dimensions as well.
Once again, seeing the internal engine of the ship was far more awe-inspiring than Bioware had portrayed it over one hundred and fifty years ago, and that wasn't even counting the possibility that he was in an alternate universe… which he believed he was, considering that there were no records anywhere of a game called Mass Effect, nor, even, of anything remotely resembling it. Shaking his head he continued down the ship, occasionally sniping the occasional soldier in the head with his Mattock as they advanced - finally reaching the door that led inside. Liara immediately jammed the hacking tool onto it and it whirred to life; the green taking noticeably less time to move around the circle than it had in the game. As soldiers swarmed their position Andy couldn't help but wish that he could have used cheats in this reality. A quick modification to the file back 'home' on Earth had allowed him to cut his power recharges to fractions of a second, and their effects boosted to over ten.
He kept his mind busy with these thoughts as he helped Jack and Liara fend off their attackers; occasionally winking in and out of existence to deliver shadow strikes to those with heavy weapons or armour. He'd clocked the game several times on Hard-core without cheats, but after a while it'd just gotten too repetitive and he'd blasted through the game the last few times just so he could have the appropriate saves for when Mass Effect 3 came out the following March. Finally the door dinged, informing them of the completed hack, and the three quickly ducked inside before activating the self-destruct mechanism on the device. The moment the doors slid shut behind the three the hacking tool caused a massive OS overwrite on the local systems, preventing them from being opened either externally or internally. If somebody wanted to get through then they'd have to do it by force, or spend a considerable amount of time, in the realm of days, hacking the system to reverse the effect… either that or get one of the three to tell them the override password, which just wasn't going to happen.
Of course getting into the ship wasn't the problem; it was getting to the room in which the Shadow Broker resided that was going to be the problem, because unlike the game the inside of the ship wasn't just a single path to their objective - it was a veritable maze of corridors and rooms that spanned nearly a kilometre squared, and was three floors high. As soon as they ducked inside they were assaulted by a storm of gunfire and biotics; singularities blasting into their positions and a few rounds impacting against their shields, making them fizz with the strain. Since Jack still wasn't as versed in her newly enhanced biotics as Andy was, the young man was the one designated to biotic defence duty; sending singularities back to whence they came and then imploding them, as well as diverting all other manner of biotic attack. Of course the occasional one got through, but the caster of the field would inevitably fall victim to one of Liara's expertly aimed bullets or Jack's pulverizing waves of dark energy. Their movement forwards was almost at snail's pace, and Andy finally got fed up and turned to Jack who was hunkered down behind him as their cover, a doorway at that moment, got positively hammered with bullets. "Can you get up into the ducts?" he yelled over the noise, and she looked around before catching sight of a grate and nodding. Working together as if they'd been doing it their whole lives Jack burst from cover the precise moment the young merc leant around the cover and blasted three simultaneous shockwaves down the passage; killing nearly ten soldiers, maiming more, and forcing the rest in behind their own cover to avoid ending up as blood splatters on the walls as some of their buddies had been.
Liara and Andy increased their fire to simulate three people; diverting their attention from the fact that one of their number was missing, and both grinned when they saw Jack drop down behind the assembled group like a dark avenger. From where he was standing, Andrew thought that she was the hottest thing he'd ever seen. With a roar over their communications network she charged into the centre of the group, knelt down, and then used the only new attack she knew. Biotic energy blasted outwards with a blinding white glow, and while Liara shielded her eyes, Andy looked into the centre of the maelstrom and grinned with pride as he saw his girlfriend stand up; mass effect fields fluctuating wildly over the surface of her armour. He strode forwards and slapped her shoulder, and she looked up at him - he was sure, despite the fact her entire head was covered with a mask identical to his own - with a beaming smile and sated eyes that had only moments before been filled with bloodlust.
Three hours later and even Andy was getting tired. Between the massive use of his biotics, adrenaline highs and crashes, bouts of physical intensity, and his senses constantly stretched out to their maximum range, he was almost collapsing. He'd been counting, and he had killed at least seventy soldiers, and he wouldn't be surprised if Jack had matched him on that count - which begged the question, just how many more were there? They had seemingly contained the fight to the uppermost floor of the ship, although whether by luck or by orchestration Andrew hated to guess. After a rather…messy interrogation of one of the soldiers still alive they had their directions, and marched as quickly as they dared towards the back of the ship. As they neared Andy noticed the prison block and other features he'd seen in the game and raided a couple of supply lockers for thermal clips on the way.
And there was the door.
All three looked at it with mixed emotions; Liara with apprehension and a hint of excitement; Jack with bloodlust, but one that was tinted with fear; and Andrew with a knowing, relieved expression. He didn't know how much longer he'd be able to hold out, and so having the end in sight was something he was very thankful for. With a deep breath he strode forwards, and one pneumatic hiss later they were standing inside the familiar room… at least to the gamer-turned-soldier. The Yahg standing twenty meters away from them was something that had each and every one of them freezing dead in their tracks. To put it simply, the thing was huge. Making a quick calculation Andy guessed that it was at least ten times bigger than he was, and he was covered in thick armour… and the eight eyes that were looking at them were more than a little creepy and disconcerting. "Andrew Kronos… interesting to see you here, I was not aware that my location was known by anybody - strange."
"Uhuh," returned the mercenary in question, "sure…"
The huge creature turned its head towards Liara and seemed slightly surprised. "I was aware that you were in contact with Subject Zero and Miss T'Soni; my surveillance cameras picked them up in your apartment on the Citadel."
"Mm, funny how all those pesky little bugs that would have allowed you to know why they were there got… fried moments after your operatives placed them, wasn't it? You're surprised I'm here… I'm surprised you're so shit at gathering secrets."
Andy smirked when he saw what he knew to be a frown, or at least the equivalent, pass over the Shadow Broker's face. "A mere miscalculation on my part," it protested firmly. It was clear by the look on all three of its enemies' faces that they didn't believe him, and it twitched in agitation. "I have been trying to gather information on you Mister Kronos… it has been most difficult. I have gathered information on the most secretive Spectres easier than I have found information on your past. It is as if, before four years ago, you never existed."
Andrew's smirk dropped immediately, and he glared at the huge creature when he saw Jack and Liara look at him with mixed parts suspicion and wariness. "I did my very best to keep it that way," he replied guardedly, "my past is just that: my past."
"And yet your companions find this information interesting and unusual."
He took a moment to look over at the two women in question and gave a slight wince when he saw Liara's distrust, but took a full step back as if physically slapped when he saw the same expression on Jack's face and in her eyes. "Your reactions indicate that you and Subject Zero are in a relationship… most interesting. I will have to add that to your profile when I have killed you."
Walking carefully over to Jack, who tensed at his approach, he leant down to her ear so that only she could hear. "Later Jack, after this mission… I promise."
He pulled back to see her staring into his luminous blue eyepieces, and after several seconds she gave a sharp nod and turned her attention back to the now-standing Shadow Broker. Andy gave a deep sigh of relief and turned back to the situation at hand himself - ignoring Liara's suspicious body language for the time being. "I'm not dying," he shot back, "I'm going to kill you and then take this whole operation over… who knows, maybe I'll just keep you as a pet like your previous owner did. Does that sound good? Little pet Yahg?"
With a roar of anger a piece of table flew forwards them, and while Liara jumped behind some cover near the door they had just entered through Andy pulled Jack down to avoid the massive piece of flying furniture. When they looked up they found themselves looking at a glowing, shielded, and extremely pissed of Yahg.
Andy wondered if the pet thing had been a little over the top.
"He's shielded," he informed them calmly over their communications channel as he dragged Jack behind some cover, "bullets aren't going to do a lot. Jack, I need you to get in there and slam him with some serious biotics, because what I'm about to do is going to drain me and if it doesn't work then we're fucked. Liara, I need you to distract him so that Jack doesn't get hurt, okay?"
Both nodded from their respective cover; Liara still by the door and Jack beside Andy, and Liara popped up before running around to 'flank' the huge beast. Jack ran at its unexposed back the moment it was turned away from her, but the second she moved to kneel down to properly channel her biotics into a ball - hence the kneeling into one - the Yahg spun around and slammed its iridescent red shield right into her legs. Andy's eyes widened in panic when he heard the loud crack of bone breaking as well as his girlfriend's agonized scream, and moved to jump out from behind his cover but froze when he heard a pained but determined, "Stay the fuck there Fucker; I didn't do this to chicken out." He could feel the biotic energy building and peeked around his cover, his eyes widening further as he saw the Yahg thumping ominously towards her; his muscles screaming for him to jump out and help her, but his mind and her voice telling him to do the precise opposite. Just as the huge beast was lifting its gun to point at her face Andy could take it no more and tore the sniper rifle from his back before manipulating his biotics around the huge bullet in the chamber and firing it into its head.
The round was true to its target and slammed through its shields; blasting one of its large antennae-like protrusions from its head, and the beast let out a rumbling roar of pain. It was all the time Jack needed, and a moment later a huge shockwave of energy burst from her; shorting out the Shadow Broker's shields, blinding it, and knocking it backwards away from her. Andy moved. He vaulted over the waist-height piece of cover and immediately threw Jack towards Liara; eliciting a yell of pain from his girl as her broken leg was thrown about mercilessly. He blocked it out, knowing that it would easily distract him from what he had to do, and charged forwards; pulling out a small thick black tube from a holster on his right thigh as he did so. The moment he reached the Yahg, who was now struggling to get back to its feet, he jabbed the device right into its unprotected neck, whereupon a surgical laser burned through its natural armour, and a needle shot into the exposed flesh the moment it did so, injecting the tube's contents into the beast's bloodstream. Andy didn't even wait to pull out the tube, more than content in just letting it dangle out of the Shadow Broker's neck, and retreated to Jack's side, who was mumbling curses under her breath; her eyes filled with agony from the torn muscles, ligaments, tendons, and broken bones in her right leg.
"Fuck I'm so sorry Jack," he cursed as he knelt down beside her, but she waved him off with a gasp of pain as Liara pulled her bones straight to aide in operating later.
"-saved me," she panted, "just get me out of here alive."
He nodded and rested his forehead against hers for a moment before standing and facing the Yahg who was now looking at the black cylinder with confusion. "Element Zero residue on the needle," it commented, "dangerous to humans, not Yahgs… what was the point Mister Kronos?"
"This," he said simply, and drew upon all of the reserves he had left to manipulate the Element Zero molecules that were now swarming through the Shadow Broker's cardiovascular system. The more accuracy one had with biotics, he had discovered, the more power it used, just like the more raw strength the less accuracy one could have. Manipulating thousands of globules of Element Zero in an organism's bloodstream was not something to be taken lightly at all, and yet that was precisely what Andy was at that moment doing. As it was a stable element at rest, he was tearing electrons away from it to make it into a radioactive isotope… a highly volatile radioactive isotope; one that was very much in the same range as antimatter in regards destructive potential. The Shadow Broker looked down in confusion as he felt his body grow hotter and hotter, and its eyes widened when it saw the skin and natural armour coating literally bubbling.
All the enzymes in his body were being denatured with the intense heat the Element Zero was producing, and it could feel its consciousness slipping away - before it suddenly disappeared with a flash of brilliantly blinding white light as the atomic orbitals in the atoms of Element Zero finally destabilized enough to implode upon the nucleus, causing a miniature nuclear explosion. Andy was thrown back from the force of it, and quickly junctioned his biotics into his bones and muscles when he saw the wall getting nearer. He slammed against it with a small crack and felt several of his ribs fracture with a yelp of pain, before sliding to the ground and covering his eyes from the lingering light of the explosion. Finally the room dulled, and he looked above at the lightning reservoir with relief; his shield having protected it from the brunt of the explosion. It was one thing about the game he didn't understand; surely it wasn't just there for show, and to destroy it to kill the Shadow Broker was hardly a smart idea. He stumbled to his feet, knowing that the job was not yet done, and dragged himself over to the rapidly reddening terminals on the far side of the room. Liara and Jack watched him go, the latter almost deliriously from the painkillers Liara had administered, and the moment he reached the terminals he started the upload for his program.
Bringing up the voice morphing program he spoke. "Those who just died in this assault were not worthy of being present on this ship, let alone serving. The three freelancers who decimated the weak among you I hired to do so, and they will be leaving this ship momentarily. If they are killed, you will be killed. They are my most trusted lieutenants." He quickly whipped through the system and grinned wearily when he saw the ships blueprints. "Open the docking bay; their transport will be here within ten minutes. All operations will resume upon their leaving, Shadow Broker out."
Suddenly all the terminals in the room, and indeed the entire station, flashed blue for a moment signalling the virus having taken over all the systems, and Andy gave a deep sigh before calling up his Omni-tool and activating the connection to his, Kar's, Jack's, and Liara's Omni-tools. Dragging himself back over to Jack he pulled off her hood, as well as his own, and smiled down at her sweaty, barely-conscious face. "We're getting out of here Jack; it's going to be okay. Sleep now; you're safe."
She nodded with a small smile of her own and closed her eyes, and Andrew placed their hoods back on to conceal their identities. "Kar, head to the underside of the ship; there's a docking bay there. We've got control of the ship, so you'll be safe. Once you're docked please go and get the med-bay ready."
"Aye Commander, heading there now."
He looked over at Liara, who was regarding him with a frown, and he gave a small shrug. "Liara, we all have our secrets. None of them can hurt you, you have my word… but Jack will be the only one I will tell."
"Because she's your family?"
He gave a small smile and a nod. "Yes… because she's my family." Liara stared at him for several seconds before giving a resigned sigh and a nod, and watched as he headed to the locked door leading out to the rest of the ship, unlocked it, and then yelled out into the hallway, "Well what the fuck're you waiting for? My comrade's fucking down, and I need a goddamn stretched stat! You! Get me a goddamn stretcher before I'm tempted to finish the rest of you sorry little shits off!" Five seconds later a soldier scurried fearfully into the room and erected the Eezo-powered stretcher; helping Andy get Jack onto it before actually offering to help get them down to the Docking Bay.
Oh the irony.
