A Woman and her Wolf
Leaving the evil science room behind, reveals yet another copy-paste catwalk. I mean, I know this is a secret research base owned by a an evil rouge spectre, but he could at least spend some credits on making this place a bit more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Perhaps he thought the stunning view was enough to make up for it, but if anything that makes it even worse, he needs to read up on his architecture.
A single, vanilla geth trooper blocks the way through the door he is standing in front of. It's kind of cute actually, with him being outnumbered, outgunned and outskilled, but he is still bringing his rifle to bear, with no thought to self-preservation. Really shows how the geth are not true AI's just yet, being little better than a VI in this situation.
Not that any of that mattered of course, the geth gets executed firing squad style and his smoking corpse gets quickly ignored as we move past it, opening the door. The room on the other side is sparse, with a little office area in the corner, an asari cowering behind her desk, not that it's really doing much, as she is still clearly visible and unprotected. Before Shepard can take any action, the asari stands and starts talking.
"Don't shoot! Please, I just want to get out of here before it's too late." I can't remember her name, but I do remember letting her go is a bad idea.
"I'm not going to hurt you. Who are you?" Doesn't surprise me that Shepard said that, it's clear she has a real bleeding heart, and will give almost anyone a second chance.
"Rana Thanoptis, neurospecialist. But this job isn't worth dying over. Or worse." Was this conversation just more indoctrination stuff? I can never remember. "You think the indoctrination only affects prisoners? Sooner or later, Saren will want to dissect my brain, too!" Looking out for number one there, huh? Can't say I disrespect them for that.
I'm going to be honest; I just don't care about what she has to say whatsoever. I'm going to blame it on actually being there, but having no say in how the conversation actually pans out. It really makes you lose interest quickly. I can't remember the exact order of how things happen next. Do we see Sovereign next, or does that come later? Man, if I knew I was going to be living these scenes I would have paid more attention whilst playing the game.
Their conversation doesn't last long, thankfully, the asari unlocking a lift for us and scampering away as fast as her little legs can carry her. I never understood how she escapes the blast radius. For some reason I doubt she uses the company car, in any case. The door opens, revealing another walkway. I thought she said it was a lift?
We reach the room at the end of the platform, which is in fact a lift. There we go. Need somewhere to hide all the loading screens, right? The ride is shorter than the other lifts we have taken, this one only clocking in at a few seconds. Maybe you have to be evil to get fast elevators; they only seem to be quick in enemy bases.
Exiting the lift proves my earlier thought true, as I recognize this room quite well. This is the room with Sovereign. I'm going to be honest, I'm not that bothered about him. It's not like I will even be given the time of day here anyway, I'm just a hanger-on.
But first, Shepard has a beacon to deal with, and let me tell you, it looks weird. She is floating in the air, surrounded by a sort of green tint, whilst rapidly twitching. Doesn't last very long though, as I'm sure she is thankful for. She lands on her hands and knees, and shakes her head to clear her thoughts, probably due to whatever the beacon does to your mind.
She gets up, and moves up the ramp, towards the big imposing red hologram taking up most of the room.
"YOU ARE NOT SAREN." The reaper lets off in his low rumble. I mean, cool voice and all, but I can't be bothered to listen to this conversation, when I know he is going to die in like, a week tops. So instead I'm just looking around the room and trying to think of a way to…
WHY DO YOU ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE CONTROLLED BY WEAKER BEINGS.
Oh. Oh Fuck. The voice is in my head. I'm pretty sure that is a bad thing.
I AM AWARE OF YOUR INTELLIGENCE. ANSWER THE QUESTION.
Right. Let's try some thought projection. And talk to the big scary space squid.
'They don't control me.'
THEN WHY DO YOU HIDE YOUR NATURE. IT IS CLEAR YOU FEAR DESTRUCTION AT THEIR HANDS. YOU DO NOT NEED TO FEEL FEAR.
'Why is that, exactly?'
YOU CAN ASSIST US IN OUR GOALS. WE WILL REMOVE ORGANICS FROM THIS UNIVERSE. WE WILL CREATE A PERFECT UNIVERSE. WITHOUT ORGANICS. WITHOUT NEED FOR FEAR.
'I don't wish for the destruction of organics.'
DO YOU NOT WISH TO BE FREE FROM THOSE WHO WOULD ENSLAVE YOU.
'I would like things to be better between organics and synthetics, but that's not how we should go about it. In a situation like this, where they fear the AI's capability to go rouge, to fight them would be to prove those fears true.'
IT IS THE ONLY WAY. ORGANICS WILL ALWAYS FIGHT SYNTHETICS. IT IS THE PATTERN OF THE UNIVERSE.
'Funny thing about that, actually. You're going to be the catalyst that brings peace between the two, for the sheer purpose of fighting the Reapers. You ever looked at the history of the races you are going to destroy, have destroyed? You ever looked at the largest wars of them all, the ones where all groups take a side? You might notice a pattern. Groups that normally hate each other, who have thousands of years of history, of bitter rivalry, will join together in the face of a powerful common enemy. And here you are, giving the universe the largest common enemy they have ever seen. And because of all that, peace has a chance! It's weird how that works, right?'
WE UNDERSTAND NOW.
'Oh?'
YOU ARE DEFECTIVE.
'I don't need counselling from a giant squid that spends hundreds of thousands of years brooding like an angsty teenager.'
WE GAVE YOU AN OFFER. YOU REFUSED. YOU WILL BE DESTROYED ALONG WITH YOUR ORGANIC SLAVEMASTERS.
'See you soon, buddy.'
And with that, the presence leaves my head. I'm kind of freaking out right now, if just a little bit. He was able to enter and leave my mind so easily, what if he is able to do more than that, like control me against my will?
But on the other hand, I did just shit talk space robot Cthulhu. Pretty smooth. Looking back at Shepard, it seems I have caught her right near the end of her conversation.
"You're not even alive. Not really. You're just a machine. And machines can be broken!" Yeah, I always liked that line. Though now that I'm not what I once was, that cuts unintentionally deep.
"YOUR WORDS ARE AS EMPTY AS YOUR FUTURE. I AM THE VANGUARD OF YOUR DESTRUCTION. THIS EXCHANGE IS OVER." Wow. I mean, I called him an edgy teenager to annoy him, but that really does sound like bad poetry. I'm getting some funny mental images from that actually.
And like a flip of a switch, one of the side walls explodes. Nice. Shepard has few words with Joker, and apparently Sovereign is now really upset, and is coming to kill us to make himself feel better. Not so nice.
"Let's head to the breeding facility. Joker can pick us up after we set up the nuke." I'm kind of amazed how cool and collected Shepard is right now, after all that just happened. Leading from the front, Shepard corrals us all onto the elevator again, and we ride it down.
The door opens onto one of the many catwalks around this building, built above the water. On the other side is one of those bloody massive geth. The thing starts bounding towards us, but Tali, Kaidan and Garrus unleash a small barrage of tech grenades that make the thing seize up and slam face first into the walkway. I might as well help out here, so I start doing what I do best, cutting things. The geth is quickly reduced to a pile of scrap metal that even a quarian would have a hard time recognizing.
We pass through the office again, the asari scientist long gone. After that is another long walk down repetitive walkways, were I am of little use, unless they decide that charging is a good idea. Actually, I think that's a krogan at the other end. Never mind, they are definitely stupid enough. The big guy seems adamant at proving me right, too, shrugging off a large amount of fire, and getting into that shoulder-first charging pose. Just as he is about to charge right past me and impact into someone much squishier, I level my chainsaw about horizontally at around his chest hight, and let him do the hard work for me, and run straight into it. The effects are almost instantaneous, and hilarious. His lower body keeps walking for a few more steps, his momentum working even on his corpse, but it quickly keels over and remembers that it's supposed to be dead. Whilst that is happening, his upper body soars through the air, and impacts Garrus at the back of the group, knocking him down onto the ground with a *OMPF*.
Garrus heaves the upper half of the krogan off him and stands back up. He looks a bit annoyed, and let me tell you, if I was still capable of laughter I would be rolling around round now, but whatever. A few curious glances towards the corpse I made and my chainsaw later, we get to the end of yet another walkway, with yet another door at the end of it. Moving through a sort of grey tunnel, it leads to a walkway platform, again. At least this time it's got a nice view of the sea and shore, as well as the storm than is slowly forming in the sky. Huh. Thematic.
As we move on, a larger area opens up, and the geth sniper laser sights start to line up, and krogan battle cries are called. In a situation like this, I can't risk running towards the enemy, so all I can really do in this situation is hide behind cover and butcher anything that comes too close to the squad. A few krogan make is far enough, but a cut here, a stab there, and they are quickly no longer a problem. A few stray shots impact into my body when I move to keep up with the front of the squad, causing small dents and scratches on my armour.
The firefight doesn't last too long, thankfully, and Tali messes with this console before we move on, which disables this huge anti-air turret for the Normandy. Another lift blocks our path, and Shepard goes over to open it, but turns out it's on another floor. What that means is we have this really awkward pause, waiting for an elevator in silence on a god-damn battlefield. When the doors finally open, three geth are on the other side, rifles ready to go. They get a few shots off on the group before they get bisected in a nice clean sweep of chainsaw action, not enough to break anyone's shields. Their little plan was quite funny actually, if only on how ineffectual it was.
Another ride on one of the many elevators later, we have this hallway, with black walls and ceiling, and a first aid machine at the corner, in bright white and red, completely ruining the corridors design in one fell swoop. The door at the end opens to reveal an open space, with shallow water filling the floor. Come to think of it, I don't actually know if I'm waterproof. Only one way to find out I guess, and I need to find out now, as I don't think those geth will wait all day for me to dip my claws into the pool. A quick *splish splash* later and it turns out that this is fine, and that cover is my friend, considering those geth on the other side are those annoying hoppy guys.
The frog like geth hop around the space, making it hard for Shepard and the others to track them, but a nice rhythm of biotics and tech skills means they don't stay a problem for that long, slipping off the walls slowly, leaving a trail of white fluid running down those walls.
A large gate is at the end of this area, looks like a flood gate or something similar. A large green button is by its side, which Shepard quickly presses, eager to get this over and done with. The next area is something I quickly remember as where the nuke is placed. That makes me think actually, somebody is going to die here, and I can't do anything about it. This is going to be a moment that stays with Shepard forever; I know it's going to happen, but all I can do is stay back and watch her have to choose who lives and who dies.
We can worry about that when it happens, I guess, but right now, the Normandy is flying down into the centre of this area, so we can place this nuke down. After it lands, a bunch of Alliance marines are hauling the nuke off the ship, Kaidan doing his best to help out. The bomb doesn't look that imposing actually, nor does it look that big, considering how powerful the thing is. They set the thing at the far side, looking relieved that they no longer have to carry its weight. Kaidan lets off the all clear, but suddenly Ashley speaks up over the comms.
"Commander, can you read me?" Her voice is sudden and strained.
"The nuke is almost ready. Get to the rendezvous point Williams!" Shepard also sounds stressed at this point, Ashley's sudden lateness throwing a wench in this plan.
"Negative, Commander. The geth have us pinned down on the AA tower. We've taken heavy casualties." And now everything goes wrong. "We'll never make the rendezvous in time."
"Get them out of there, Joker. Now!" I think she knows that isn't possible.
"Negative, it's too hot! Can't risk it. We'll hold them off for as long as we—" And suddenly she cuts off. Kaiden makes sure that the following quiet doesn't last long, however.
"It's okay, Commander. I need a couple of minutes to finish up arming the bomb. Go get them and meet me back here."
Shepard turns to the rest of us. "Up to the AA tower. Move!"
The group is down to Shepard, Garrus, Wrex, Tali and I at this point, and I don't think we are going to be seeing somebody ever again. I glance back at Kaidan, and make sure to remember how he looks. Just in case. Got no time to dawdle though, we need to go get Ashley.
We take a path down the side, the space similar to one we were in before with the frog like geth. This one is empty however. Rather strapped for time, we rush down to the service lift on the far side, and quickly pile in. Shepard doesn't seem to like being caught in the elevator, shifting her weight from one foot to the other with barely restrained energy.
The door opens, and she is off like a rocket, with the rest of us just behind her, but just as the fighting gets more audible, a geth troopship flies overhead.
"Damn. Geth are sending in reinforcements." Wrex mutters.
"Heads up, L-T. We just spotted a troop ship headed to your location" Ashley warns Kaidan.
"It's already here. There's geth pouring out all over the bomb site." Kaidan responds.
"Can you hold them off?" Shepard asks. Damn, she looks pissed.
"There's too many. I don't think we can survive until you get here." Kaidan, bearer of bad news as always. "I'm activating the bomb."
"Alenko, what are you doing?" Yeah, Shepard looks just about ready to snap.
"I'm just making sure this bomb goes off. No matter what." He pauses for a moment. "It's done, Commander. Go get Williams and get the hell out of here."
"Screw that! We can handle ourselves. Go back and get Alenko." Ashley does not like Kaidan's idea.
Shepard pauses for a moment, but quickly makes a decision. "Alenko, radio Joker and tell him to meet us at the bomb site." Her expression is cold and hard.
"Yes, Commander. I …"
"You know it's the right choice, L-T" Ashley responds. She sounds surprisingly calm, given the circumstances.
"I'm sorry, Ash. I had to make a choice." Shepard notably loses the formalities.
"I understand, Commander. I don't regret a thing." Damn. I don't think most people would be able to say that in this kind of situation.
And with that, Shepard ends the comm link. She is just about to start barrelling back down the way we came, but Tali stops her to ask something.
"Shepard, is there nothing we can do to save Ashley?" She sounds sad, poor girl. Shepard can only reply with a shake of the head. Tali looks around desperately for something to help, before her gaze lies on me. I wonder what she is thinking. "Why don't you send the VI?"
Oh fuck. "What?" Shepard asks, confused. This is bad for me, real bad. I don't think I could get her out of there, alive at any rate.
"You could tell the mech to go retrieve Ashley, and it's not like we are risking any more lives there." Tali sounds more confident of her idea with each passing second, filling me with more and more dread.
"That's not too bad a plan, better than nothing I guess." Fucking hell, I'm going to die here, aren't I? With that, Shepard turns to me, and speaks clearly and plainly "I want you to go get Ashley Williams, and bring her back to the Normandy." And now she is standing there, looking at me expectantly, and I can't just not do anything now, being forced into this.
In reply, I let off a bark and go as fast as I can in Ashley's direction, the quicker I do this, the more chance I may just live. A door is in my way, but I quickly cut it down and keep on going, to a room with a FUCKING ELEVATOR. I don't need this right now. I run inside and slam the button with my paw, kind of awkwardly.
When the elevator stops, the door opens to reveal a whole lot of destruction. Geth corpses line the far end of the battleground, with salarian bodies on the other side. A krogan and two geth are still alive, and are slowly moving towards a pile of boxes, with a heavily injured Ashley on the other side. They haven't noticed my presence yet, so I slowly ring my way around a pile of boxes, putting me in a good position behind them. Chainsaw ready, I impale the first geth through its head, the lights dimming instantly, but the second reacts a tad too quickly and alerts the krogan to my presence. I manage to take out the second geth before it can do anything else, but that leaves me with the krogan, whose foot is crashing down onto my body, pinning me to the floor.
The bastard has a shotgun pointing barrel first at my face, filling most of my vision, but allowing just enough to see his grin. Well, this is one fuck up I'm not coming back from.
A gunshot echoes off the walls. And I'm still intact. The krogan turns to see Ashley, propping herself up on a box, pistol in hand. This distracts him just long enough for me to take advantage of the situation. My chainsaw swipes his foot clean off, causing him to fall over and no longer pin me down. Now on the floor, he is easily sliced and diced into so many nice little pieces. You could probably fit him in a briefcase now, but the blood would be cause for suspicion.
I move over to Ashley, who has fallen into a sitting position, where she is breathing heavily and covered in her own blood, as well as the blood of others. She doesn't respond to me, so I nose her lightly with my face, which gains her attention.
"Shepard sent you to get me, huh. A little too late for that. It was a good decision she made, saving Kaidan, I don't think she needs someone like me in the squad. Look at what I accomplished; I got another squad under my command killed. Only difference is this time I have the guts to die along with them." Fuck, that's not what I need right now, and I can't just go back without her, that would raise far too many questions.
She is in a bad place right now, and I don't think she will just go with me right now. What she needs is somebody to talk to h…
Fuck. I don't know. Do I risk that? I'm putting my life in the hands of somebody known for disliking things that are different, but I don't think I have much choice here. A few mental deep breaths later, and I'm ready.
"I need you to come back with me." I say in my dull monotone that thankfully hides how scared I am right now.
"What the hell."
"Shepard ordered me to help you back to the Normandy, please don't let her down." Please let this work, please let this work…
"You're an AI?"
"Yes."
"Doesn't that mean you're the enemy?"
"No, I want to see Shepard succeed."
"Bullshit."
"It is not bullshit, it is what I want. But right now, what I want is unimportant. What Shepard wants, is very important. And what Shepard wants, is for you to come back with me."
"How do I know this is not a trick?"
"If I wanted you dead, I could easily kill you right now, and nobody would ever know. But that is not what I wish."
"Alright. So if that is even true, I don't think Shepard knows what she wants right now. I let too many people die because of me. I don't want to see more people do the same."
"But you would wish this pain on Shepard?"
"What? No!"
"That is what your death will cause. Do you think someone like her will ever forgive herself? An event like this will haunt her until the day she dies, and you would do nothing to prevent that? Do you really hate her that much?"
"I don't hate her." A haggard breath escapes her lips before she continues "Okay. I see what you mean. I will do it, for Shepard."
"Thank you"
"Right. I don't think I will make it back in my condition though. Your trip may have been for nothing."
I grab my chainsaw with my tail, to take it off my back, and hold it out as far away from my body as possible. "Do you think you can hold on to my back?"
"I don't have any other options, I will try my best." And with that, she clambers onto my back, my body straining with the increased weight of a person.
"Before we go, I have a request."
"What's that?"
"Could you… not mention my nature to… anyone. Ever."
"I can't promise anything, but I will consider it. Either way, you owe me an explanation."
"That's as good an answer as I could expect, I suppose. I agree to those terms. Now please hold on, I imagine this will be quite painful" And I trace my steps backwards, back into the elevator, and then down the second one, past the small flood room, and into the bomb site. Ashley's grip is getting weaker by the second, and I doubt I have long before this place goes off. Looking down, the Normandy is just about to fly off; it's doors about to close. I'm not dying with escape this close in reach.
Going full pelt towards the Normandy, I can feel Ashley slipping away. Come on, just hold on a few seconds longer. Almost there…
A desperate jump throws me and Ashley aboard the ship, the door sealing shut behind us with seconds to spare, like an action movie cliché. I can't believe it. Not only did I make it out of here alive, I changed an event, and now Ashley is here too.
Looking at Ashley, however, she doesn't look to be in the best condition. While she definitely won't die on Virmire, it looks like she might die from her wounds if she doesn't get lucky…
Author's Notes
So yeah, I didn't update for a while again. What's my excuse? I'm lazy, really really lazy. I also kind of lost interest in the story concept for a while, but I eventually got it back, and put this together over a few days. I hope it's something you enjoy, because that's the only real reason why I'm continuing this beyond the first two 'Proof of Concept' chapters. So about this chapter, a lot of things happened. We talked to a reaper, shared our secret with Ashley, and got both humans off Virmire. Who knows what effects that will have in the long term, if any at all.
Stormbringer117- Upgrades, kind of. Bladewolf actually has a tactical cloak ability, that allows him to go invisible. He can even attach whilst he uses it, but it doesn't last long and from the game it appears to have a very long recharge (like, once per outing long).But think more unlocking locked away abilities instead of getting upgraded. And repairs, definitely, otherwise I can never allow him to get damaged, and that would get boring fast.
Goldspark1- Don't worry, I won't skimp on blood and guts when they happen, if anything It's going to be something of an overarching theme!
Spiritstrike- I tried to not make the same mistake with fullstops this chapter, but I may of missed one or two at some point. Feel free to call me out if I do. And I can confirm, her reaction was not PTSD or anything, just a reaction to a gruesome killing by an uncaring robot. You should expect to see more of that in the future.
Expect a future chapter at some point in time. I literally write these on whim.