Five Seconds
Chapter 12: Overload
Authors Note: I won't even bother to try and bull shit a reason why this took so long to come out. I can only say sorry! And hope that this chapter was worth the wait, at least you know I haven't given up on this story, I plan on taking it all the way, college life willing. But as I say, back to the action!
"You're sure?" Shepard asked again, crossing her arms, standing across from Daemon and Doctor Chakwas, who was examining his ribs in the med bay.
"Nyxeris said it clearly, this Shadow Broker knows about me," Daemon said, who was sitting in a chair, hands on his legs.
After the events from yesterday, Shepard and the rest of the team checked in early, but not before Daemon met Thane first though. He was rather surprised at the assassins' personality; he thought he was going to hate someone that killed for money. However, he didn't think Thane was like that at all, he had an…aura around him, confident, but polite without vanity, cold, yet he looked like he carried a lot of guilt on his shoulders. Rather than disliking the assassin, he found he liked the drell.
"We'll have the crew sweep the ship for bugs, that's the only conceivable way they knew, Mordin seems to have a talent for finding listening devices," She said her hand rising up to brush a lock of red hair from her face.
The doctor finally rose up to her full height, looking over at Shepard saying, "His ribs are healed he's ready for action."
"Perfect, you'll come with me, Thane, and Kasumi to recruit the asari Justicar in a half hour," Shepard said, turning as she walked towards the exit.
"I'll be ready," Daemon promised as he pulled on a shirt, after that he thanked Doctor Chakwas and left the med bay.
Before gearing up he decided to go to the engineering deck first, since Jack wouldn't be joining them, he wanted to at least talk to her before they left. Stepping out onto the engineer deck he made his way past the door, but as he was walking down the steps, Jacks voice suddenly burst out.
"I don't want to talk, go away."
He stopped just before reaching the last step, there was a tension in her voice, was she…crying? "Jack?" he called out.
"I said FUCK OFF!" She shouted at him, causing him to flinch slightly at the sudden outburst.
It was clear to him any more attempts to communicate with her would do nothing more but make things worse, he turned back around, giving her space, heading straight up to CIC to gear up.
She had another nightmare last night, as she usually did when she fell asleep sober, and sometimes drinks didn't even hold them back. She was back in the hell hole of a testing facility, back in the arena.
Concrete slabs form a barrier around her and her opponent. The weight of the collar around her neck barely noticeable by now, only the sudden jolts of electricity when she hesitated reminded her of its existence. The sounds of the kids behind the barrier jeered at her, cheering for the older boy always for the other child, never for her. The fresh jolt of electricity spurred her to run straight for the kid, screaming in pain and anger, lunging straight for him. Despite her smaller size, she knocked the older boy onto the ground, the pain of the jolt vanishing with the rush of drugs flowing through her body, causing her to tingle from head to toe. Her eyes started to grow hazy from the euphoria, her small fist rising up to strike at the boy when her eyes cleared for just one moment. She looked into the boys eyes glistening with tears, asking the one question she always asked herself…why? Why is this happening? What did I do wrong? Her hand trembled, showing the hesitation she was feeling before the pain lanced down her body over and over again, punishment for her weakness, her hesitation until the pain became too much, sinking her into unconsciousness. An all too short respite from the reality she knew all too well she was going to wake up in hell.
She had woken up, feeling something wet sliding down her cheeks, raising her hand up, she brushed against it, bringing her hand to her eye she saw the salty tear slide down her skin. She felt her eyes' welling up again, that's when she heard someone coming down. It could only be one person, Daemon, and he out of everyone she didn't want to see her being so pathetic, so weak. For a moment she thought he was going to press the issue, and that she'd have to throw him to the ground, instead she heard his footsteps fade without another word.
She still didn't understand the confusion she had when it came to him, she felt a sense of…warmth when around him. That warmth frightened her, and what frightened her pissed her off, so Daemon made her feel warm, frightened, and pissed off, hence: confusion.
She also couldn't help but think back on how he always comes down here, asking about her, but when she asks a question about him it turns vague. What the hell was he hiding? She wiped the back of her arm over her face brushing away the remnants tears before she sat up, it was time to snoop.
As they went in, guns holstered, an asari flew through the air in front of them, smacking into the steel wall, and after she hit the ground she didn't get up again.
After Shepard, Daemon, Thane, and Kasumi left the Normandy, it only took a few questions and a taxi to find Detective Anaya, an asari who talked to the Justicar last and allowed her to investigate a crime scene.
During all this time whenever Shepard looked at Daemon he seemed…distracted. It was clear to her that his mind was elsewhere. Whatever it was showed when she had to physically nudge him to get his attention that there were Eclipse mercs nearby.
She wanted to ask him what was on his mind, but they didn't have the time to waste, holstering her weapon she moved towards the door where the mercs planned on barging through, watching the door open before them. That is when the asari merc slammed into the metal wall. After that she couldn't see them, but she heard voices.
"Those were my best troops…" one female voice said in a stunned tone.
She then heard another voice, soft in volume, but the tone was anything but, "Tell me what I need to know, and I will be gone from here…where did you send her?"
The stunned voice turned to disbelief, "You think I'd betray her? She would hurt me in more ways than you can imagine."
The other voice didn't take that very well, "The name of the ship, your life hangs on the answer Lieutenant."
What the Lieutenant said next surprised her slightly, for a mercenary she didn't fold to save her life, "You can kill me," she said, "but one of us will take you down Justicar!"
Barely a second later there came a loud crash of glass as an asari in Eclipse armor flew from the second level, smacking into the ground. A woman in red armor, glowing with biotics, glided down right in front of the Lieutenant.
The merc crawled backwards, unarmed, trying to get away from the Justicar, but it was too late, the woman walked over with an disturbingly calm stride before placing her high heeled boot against the woman's neck. "What was the name of the ship she left on?" the Justicar asked in that same tone.
The Eclipse merc must have been having trouble breathing since it took her a few moments to say what she assumed were her last words "Go…hnnngh…to hell."
The Justicar's face did not change, instead she said, "Find peace in the embrace of the goddess," before the all too familiar sound of a neck being snapped came from beneath her boot.
Silence filled the air for a moment before Shepard took a step forward towards the Justicar, not a moment later she heard the footsteps of her crew right behind her.
The Justicar finally raised her head up, turning to look at them. She pulled her boot away from the asari, moving towards them, "My name is Samara" she said, "a servant of the Justicar Code, my quarrel is with these Eclipse sisters, but I see four well-armed people before me." She stopped in front of Shepard her eyes piercing as she asked "Are we friend? Or foe?"
Shepard didn't turn away from the Justicar's gaze, instead of answering the asari's question she asked one of her own, "That asari was wounded and didn't stand a chance, do you just kill anyone that doesn't help you?"
"If my cause is important enough, yes," she said, her head tilting just slightly "Are you different?"
"I won't hesitate to kill, but only for a good reason," Shepard crossed her arms.
"I answer to a code clearly defined," Samara replied, "If my actions are true to that code, I am just, if not, I am unjust, I don't pretend that it is a simple matter, or that it seems right to everyone, but I sleep well at night, not everyone can say as much."
Samara seemed to not need an answer to her 'friend or foe' question since she next asked, "How may I be of service?"
Shepard uncrossed her arms as she said "I'm going up against suicidal odds, I need the best, that's you."
She felt the Justicar stare into her own eyes, as if gauging her honesty, "I sense truth in what you say," she said finally, "It humbles me…however I seek an incredibly dangerous fugitive." Samara turned away, placing her back to them as she looked up, "The Eclipse sisters smuggled her off world, I must find the name of the ship before the trail goes cold."
"I wish you were willing to go with the human Justicar," Detective Anaya's voice came in from behind Shepard, turning her head she saw the detective standing near Daemon. "I've been ordered to take you into custody if you won't leave," she said.
As the Detective talked, Samara had turned, moving towards her as Anaya did the same, "You risk a great deal by following your orders Detective," she said, "Fortunately, I will not have to resist, my code obligates me to comply for twenty-four hours, after that, I cannot be delayed further."
"I won't be able to let you go so soon."
"You won't be able to stop me," After those words the tension started to fill the room as the Justicar and Detective stared at each other.
The solution to this little problem seemed clear to Shepard, "We'll get you the name of the ship while you're in custody of the Detective, if that will get you to help us."
"I would be grateful to you, and yes, I will join you, if I stay I will be forced to kill many innocents to escape incarceration."
"Like me," Anaya muttered softly.
"I might get killed, if I go with you, I may continue my investigation," Samara said before she walked past Shepard, standing next to the Detective, "Speak with Pitne For, a volus merchant, he's tied to this, the Eclipse are trying to kill him…Thank you Shepard."
After the Detective and Samara left Shepard turned to leave the crime scene as well "Let's go talk to this merchant," she said.
"Wait, Commander," Daemons voice came up, stopping Shepard in her movement, with the brief action and dealing with the Justicar, Shepard had forgot that Daemon was distracted with something.
Turning to face him she could see that he was about to share, "What's wrong Daemon?" she asked.
The Colonel glanced over at the door where Samara and Anaya had left before looking back at her "Are we sure we want this Justicar with us?"
"We need the best Colonel, and she is one of them," Shepard responded, placing a hand on her hip the Justicar wasn't what was bothering him was it?
"Permission to be frank ma'am?" He asked.
"Please do," She replied.
"With all due respect Commander," he started, "How do we know that she isn't going to harm anyone on the ship? Not everyone on board has a clean record…" he nodded his head over at Kasumi, and Thane as if it were an afterthought motion.
Her lips parted for a moment, about to respond before she thought about it. In a way he had a point, Kasumi was a thief, no doubt she had broken a lot of laws, and God knows how many people Thane had killed. While a problem it wouldn't have him this distracted…unless…"Daemon," she said, "You're worried about Jack aren't you?"
She had to give Daemon credit for not showing much of a reaction to her question, a twitch of a brow was all she got from him before he said, "My concern is for the crew as a whole Commander."
"It's alright you can admit it," Kasumi said in a sly tone, sliding over to him as she tapped at his shoulder plate, "Our little tattooed convict was on your mind wasn't she?"
"We'll deal with that small detail when we have the time," Shepard cut in, "Now let's find that merchant," she said before walking towards the door.
Jack sat alone at the table on the crew deck, picking at her food, her pissed off aura no doubt scaring any one away from trying to sit with her. That damned salarian was apparently searching the ship for bugs, and at this opportune time he decided to search Daemons room. She'd been sitting there for over an hour until the cook carefully asked her if she wanted to eat something. She figured she might as well, and to be honest, the food didn't taste as shitty as she first remembered. Still she picked at her food, trying to draw it out when she heard those two damned engineers coming from the elevator, at times she could hear them talking and they never shut up.
"I heard that Gardner is making real food now," Gabby said.
"Yeah right," the Scottish accented engineer said, "He couldn't make a good haggis if his life depended on it."
"But all haggis tastes like ass."
"Yeah, but in the right hands it can taste like mighty fine ass."
The two of them were so busy that she doubted that they noticed her at the table, walking over to Gardner. She heard them order their food, waiting by the counter, at first she thought they were going to continue talking about fucking haggis, but then Gabby started talking about her.
"You hear Jack shouting earlier?"
"The crazy woman? Yeah I thought she was going to kill someone."
"She must have been shouting at the Colonel," Gabby said.
"I don't get why he keeps going down to see her, he must talk to other people like Kasumi, he does share a bloody room with her the lucky bastard," Kenneth said shaking his head.
"I doubt he's like that Kenneth."
"I don't know, they say he hardly leaves that place, and no one ever sees Kasumi except in that room, wouldn't be surprised if after all those years he'd need to…unload the ammunition."
Jack's fingers pinched at the rim of her plate harder and harder as she listened, she knew that he shared a room with the thief, but she never thought about it. Was he sleeping with Kasumi? If he is, what does he keep coming down to her, is he trying to score with her?
Gabby's voice broke her trail of thought, "If he had no morals like you, yeah, but I heard that-"
She was interrupted as Miranda burst out of her office, Garrus came running out of the battery as well.
"Get the ship ready," She said.
"I'm coming with," Garrus said, whatever memo Miranda got the turian must have got as well.
"What the fuck is going on?" Jack stood up, neither the turian nor Miranda stopped to respond, but it was obvious there was a sense of emergency from their movement. She ignored the shocked sounds of Kenneth and Gabby, not even noticing she was sitting at the table to begin with, cursing as she ran into the elevator.
"Be careful…hiss…each Eclipse sister commits murder to earn her uniform…hiss…they are all dangerous," the volus said as he handed Shepard his copied pass key to the Eclipse base.
It didn't take long for them to find the volus Pitne For, he was standing by a bunch of containers by the police office, looking at a data pad. Daemon was trying to keep focused; out on the field it was more important than ever to stay sharp. However from time to time when Shepard was grilling the volus he kept thinking about Samara.
From the start of hearing everything about Samara and her reaction to criminal activity, it had bothered him more than he expected. At first he didn't understand it, criminals deserved to be punished, yes the asari's punishment was harsh and they deserved a trial, but those men and women made their choice, so why did it bother him so much?
At first he assumed it was because half their crew practically had shady pasts, Kasumi and Thane were fine examples, but he didn't think they were bad people, he didn't get that vibe from them, and anything to disrupt the mission was reason for concern. However, when Shepard brought up Jack it shocked him, was that really what had him worried? The more he thought about it the more he had to admit that Jack being hurt concerned him more than the mission did.
He zoned back in as the volus mentioned smuggling in a toxic chemical that boosts biotic power called Minagen X3, obviously illegal and dangerous. No surprise to him the Eclipse didn't appreciate their members dying from the chemical and wanted the volus dead.
The volus admitted to having a copy to get into the base, and all it took was a look from Shepard and cracking knuckles to get him to hand it over, giving the warning about the Eclipse sisters.
"Never took an elevator to a hostile base," Daemon said as they walked away from the volus and towards the elevator.
"I imagine you've done a lot of things lately you thought you'd never do," Shepard replied as they stepped in, the doors closing behind the group before it started to descend.
He didn't say anything to that, for one it was true, but secondly his mind started to wander again into the past.
His hands felt the weight of the rifle as he pulled it from his shoulder. In the day light they would have been cooking in the sun, but instead they were under the chilly rays of the moonlight. He liked the cold, was born during the winter, but that was home, there was no snow here, but sand. "Private Heraldson, you'll come in right behind me," the Sargents' voice came to him, looking straight at the man. This might have been his first mission, but he already owed that man a lot and he was more than willing to be in the front. He nodded his head once, positioning himself right next to his African-American leader and friend. His eyes looking around at the others, did they feel nervous? They didn't look it; he certainly hoped he didn't look it though he felt tension in every fiber of his being. He took a deep breath, holding it, there was no going back, not after he committed himself to this, not after…He shook his head, he can't let himself get distracted, especially as the Sergeant was already opening the door. He reached up, turning night vision on as he followed right behind the Sergeant, taking only a few steps in when he felt that tingle on the back of his neck. "Five…" he started to count down in his head, rifle rising.
"Colonel?" Shepard's voice brought him back to the present, his head jerking slightly as he felt a moment of disorientation, the memory feeling so vivid he almost felt the tingle on the back of his neck…
His eyes widened before his hand reached back, grasping his pistol, pulling it out, the door just starting to open revealing two asari in Eclipse armor, rifles raised. He was already pulling the trigger before the elevator opened all the way, dropping one before she could get a shot off. The last asari standing didn't even have the chance to look shocked before another gun went off just a second later, a bullet hole appearing between her eyes before falling back limply to the ground.
Daemon gave a quick glance and nod at Thane, the drell holding his gun in hand giving a quick nod back, before he moved out, looking side to side before moving over to the door.
"Impressive reaction time," Kasumi said as she and Shepard joined him, both having drawn their appropriate guns "That could have ended badly".
"Yet again you seem to be one step ahead Colonel," Shepard added, staring at Daemon, moving close to him. He knew she saw him draw the gun before he could even see the mercenaries, from the look in her eyes she was past coincidence now.
"As they tried to be," he pointed out, delaying the questions as he nodded at the two dead Eclipse sisters, "They must have known we were coming, we have to assume they're ready for us."
Shepard's eyes narrowed just slightly, but he knew she knew now wasn't the time, she looked over at Thane and Kasumi, giving her orders "Daemon and I will go in first, Thane you're on sniper duty, Kasumi stick close to us and short out any mechs they have."
Kasumi and Thane nodded once, the thief moving behind him as Thane slipped smoothly behind Shepard. Shepard's eyes moved around at them for a moment before her hand reached out, opening the door, gunshots greeting them all too quickly.
The dock was littered with metal boxes and red tanks, the containers all too obviously set up as barriers for the Eclipse sisters to hide behind. However, despite the sisters' efforts the team advanced at a steady pace, him and Shepard taking the brunt of the fire as Thane picked off targets coming through the door on the other side.
It didn't take long for them to clear the area, pressing on into the next room. After looking around he thought that there was no one nearby, but as they walked past a door he heard a whimper, "Oh Goddess! Oh Goddess! Don't let them find me, if they find me don't let them kill me, why am I here?"
He looked over at Shepard; she nodded her head, opening the door he and she entered slowly. From their point of view he could only see a blue screen with words rising up and disappearing out of frame. When he looked down however, he saw the gun on the ground, just by the corner of the contraption projecting the screen. Slowly he raised his gun up, putting as much space as he could between the projector and him; finally he saw more of the room, and the asari cowering behind the corner.
"Wait stop!" she cried out, standing up slowly as she held her hands up "I didn't fire my weapon once, I pretended to shoot because the other Eclipse sisters were watching, but I didn't really shoot!"
Daemon didn't relax however, keeping his gun trained on her, Shepard doing the same, "I don't trust anyone wearing the enemies uniform," He said "Turn around, I want to see if you're unarmed."
The asari didn't do as he instructed, instead she insisted, "I'm not one of them! I'm new, I thought being 'Elnora the mercenary' would be cool, I didn't know what they were like." Elnora's hand twitched, at that moment he felt the tingle on the back of his neck, but it wasn't her that was going to hurt someone.
"If you want to live don't do it" he said quickly causing Elnora to stop in her movement, her eyes widening with surprise before she looked down at the ground.
Shepard's eyes looked at him again for a moment before she looked at the asari, "It doesn't matter what you say Elnora, you're wearing the uniform, only Eclipse sisters that have committed murder earn the uniform, and if what you say is true and you're new then I think we found who killed the volus merchant."
Elnora's head snapped up, looking right at Shepard in shock before her eyes narrowed into slits, "Screw you," she said. He didn't need the tingling sensation to see what was coming next, just as the asari's hand reached back he held his hand up, his biotics pushing Elnora causing her to fall, hitting her head against the projector before slumping down.
Daemon exhaled softly as the blue fire like glow vanished from his body, it still felt odd using biotics, not to mention he could feel the drain on his energy. He had come a bit from picking up boxes, but he had a long way to go.
Shepard knelt down next to the asari, holding up her omni-tool, looking at the screen before bringing it back down, "Unconscious," she said standing up "We'll let the Detective pick her up when we're through."
The group nodded, turning as they left the room, Kasumi hacked the door, locking it from the outside incase the asari woke up early. "Do you really think she killed the volus?" the thief asked as they walked up the stairs to their right.
"It fits if she was telling the truth that she was new," Daemon said, "Not to mention her reaction, but it's nothing the Detective could use."
"We'll see if we run across anything that ties her to the murder," Shepard said as they reached the end of the stair way, standing in front of the door.
After that everyone got their weapons ready, Shepard opening the door as the Eclipse ducked behind cover. The fighting became constant then on, only having short breaks between climbing the steps and picking up clips. With the constant fighting going on now Daemon noticed a few things about their group.
The fact of the matter was that it didn't feel smooth. There wasn't a weak link in the chain per say, but the problem was that there was no familiarity. Daemon had fought beside Shepard a few times already, so he knew what to expect from her sometimes. However, he'd never fought with Kasumi. At times when he looked over she was gone. He'd look around; see an Eclipse mercenary fall over for no reason, and then when he looked to his right there was Kasumi popping up in front of his eyes. It seemed that she had some kind of cloaking device to make herself invisible for however long it lasted. While he thought it could come in handy on stealth missions, on an open field of a fight however, he saw it as a good way to get shot by friendly fire. Knowing where your team was vital on a mission, one person vanishes and it makes things more difficult.
When he was with Jack it wasn't hard to figure out where she was, either shouting profanity, throwing explosive waves of biotics, or right next to him when he made a charge forward. He rather missed her company, and the admittedly entertaining quips she had to say. He could tell that Shepard was missing Garrus as well.
He couldn't say much when it came to Thane, since the drell was in the back with his sniper rifle, but he saw that not having Garrus as sniper threw Shepard off a bit. At a few points when Shepard popped up from cover to shoot at her target, Daemon would see that target drop before she could fire, leaving her open to another merc that no one had targeted. He had a feeling that she and Garrus had known each other long enough to be able to know who they would go for, keeping each other covered, that was a connection deeper than just team work.
In the end it was a necessary inconvenience, for they would have to become familiar with each-others style to work as a team, perhaps they should even begin practice fights on the ship to improve the team work. They fought their way up three levels, finding less opposition on each level. After punching through one more dock they came to a room with a computer and medical station.
Curiosity took a hold of Daemon, walking over he looked at the desk, glancing around as he picked up what he recognized as a data pad. He looked at it for a moment, pressing on the screen with his finger, when a voice suddenly came out of it:
"Well it's official, little baby Elnora is finally a full-fledged Eclipse merc! I earned my uniform when I killed that ridiculous volus up close with explosive rounds. Blew that little bastards suit right open, ha ha ha! I can't wait to see some real action, next time I go home my friends are going to be so jealous!"
"It's heartening to know that in this day and age we still have the stereotypical high school girls, even if they are aliens and psychotic," He said, turning towards Shepard as she took the data pad from him.
"Guess not as many things have changed as you thought," Shepard looked down at it, putting it away as she moved towards the door "We'll hand this to the Detective as evidence."
Daemon and the rest followed right behind her, as they passed the door he could hear the sound of engines, recognizing it from Omega "Gunship," He said, joining Shepard as she pressed her back against the wall.
"They're getting desperate," Thane said, holding his sniper rifle close, standing right behind Daemon.
Daemon slipped around Shepard, reaching into his pouch he pulled out his visor, slipping it onto his ear, feeling as it unfolded, sliding across his temple before the screen appeared in front of his eye. He looked around the corner, the visor zooming in right on the gun ship, a yellow bar appearing above the screen. "Armored," He said, pulling his head back, looking over at Shepard.
"Alright," She said, putting her rifle away, pulling out a rocket launcher. She pointed at Daemon and Thane, "You two, draw his fire, don't get shot," she said before looking at the thief "Kasumi," she started, "get close enough and see if you can hack the controls, then I'll hit him with this," She patted her rocket launcher.
Kasumi nodded her head, tapping at her omin-tool, disappearing with a fizzle of her stealth cloak. Daemon edged towards the corner, looking over his shoulder at Thane, "Split up, make him switch between targets." The drell blinked once, nodding his head as he switched from the sniper rifle to a sub-machine gun, no doubt to make himself quicker on his feet.
He took a deep breath, gripping his rifle, suddenly he dived, rolling on the ground before landing in a kneeling position, firing at the gun ship before pushing up running across the field. As he moved his neck tingled, hearing the sound as he stopped, diving away as an explosion made a crater where he was standing, his shields blocking the shrapnel as he pushed himself up, continuing to run. He heard the sound of another rocket firing, this time not at him, looking he saw Thane roll away behind a crate, unharmed by the projectile.
Gun fire erupted around his body, feeling his shields absorb the rounds, his visor warning him of imminent shield failure, turning he raised his hands up, a biotic barrier forming in front of him, bullets ricocheting off. He couldn't hold this for long, already feeling the drain, sweat forming on his brow.
Thankfully he wouldn't have to wait long, the gun ship suddenly seized, sparks coming from the engine as Kasumi shouted from her cover "Go for it!"
Shepard came around the corner, aiming her rocket as she fired. The missile flying from her weapon, striking the cockpit, flames coming from it as it fell from the sky, crashing against the edge before falling off, blowing up into pieces as it fell to the ground.
Daemon took a deep breath as he let the barrier go, wiping his brow as he looked over at Shepard, "Good shot," he said.
Shepard put her rocket launcher away, walking towards him as Kasumi and Thane joined her, "Thanks, we must be close, let's finish this."
Shepard moved past him, going towards a closed door, following right behind her as the door opened for her. The next room had no hostiles to speak of, but Shepard had found a data pad, looking at it for a moment as he, Thane, and Kasumi gathered around to see what it said.
"This looks like a shipping manifest," Shepard said, "It shows that Pitne For sold two thousand units of Minagen X3 to the Eclipse." She turned her head, looking over her shoulder at them before adding "And six hundred units of red sand."
Kasumi whistled, Thane was unreadable, and Daemon was just confused. "Red sand? Sounds like it's from Mars," he said.
"You're pretty much correct," Shepard replied, "Red sand was made on Mars by criminals from refined elemental zero, gives the user momentary biotic power amongst other effects, Mars was when humanity first discovered elemental zero, but this was long after your time."
"Then how can I be a biotic?" He asked, "We hadn't even put man on Mars back then," it was something he always wondered about, and if it had any connection to his other abilities.
"It comes from exposure to elemental zero in the womb," She said, "How you were exposed is just another mystery about you," he could see that look in her eye from before, that 'you're hiding something' look.
"That's the only mystery I'm aware of," he said plainly, lying of course, but he wasn't going to tell anyone, he'd only told one person before and she was long gone now. His chest tightened slightly beneath his armor a lot of people he knew were long gone now.
"Someone explain what's going on?" Kasumi asked, apparently noticing these little moments happening a lot between him and Shepard.
"It's nothing," Shepard said, looking at him before she put the data pad away, walking towards the next objective.
He shook his head slightly before following right behind her into hall where they came on an interesting sight. A volus was standing in front of what looked like a vending machine, oblivious to their presence apparently as Shepard stood right behind him. The volus either got what he wanted or became aware of their presence turned around and bumped into Shepard, short arms flailing as he took a few steps back, looking up and started talking in a way that made Daemon's eyebrows rise.
"Hiss I am a biotic god," the volus said, his body giving off the tiniest amounts of biotics as he walked past Shepard. "I think things hiss and they happen! Fear me lesser creatures, for I am biotics made flesh," the volus turned back around, giving another spark of biotics.
Daemon saw the unsteady footing, added with this crazy talk he had to assume that this volus was on the good stuff, where in the good stuff was toxic stuff, "You need help," he said to the volus.
The 'biotic god' didn't seem to like that, turning around he pointed up "You need help!"
"Good counter," Kasumi quipped.
The drug addled volus didn't seem to hear that as he continued, "You stand before the mightiest biotic ever!" the small being walking towards Daemon slowly, falling back a few steps when a small breeze went by. "Yes it was terrifying when the asari injected me with drugs, but it was then that I began to smell my greatness!"
"Shitting your pants can do that…" Shepard murmured, rubbing the back of her head as if saying 'oh boy'.
"They may laugh when I fall over," the volus said, finally standing in front of Daemon, "but they don't know what I know in my head, that I am amazingly powerful," he watched as the volus raised his hand up saying in what Daemon had to assume was his intimidating voice, "Fear me!"
He stared down at the volus, blinking for a moment before looking at the rest of the group. Kasumi couldn't stop snickering, Shepard seemed on the verge of annoyance, and to Thanes credit he tried to keep a straight face, but a smile kept tugging at his lips. Daemon just shrugged his shoulders helplessly.
"Hiss…The leader of these mercenaries is right in the next room…hiss," The volus turned towards the door declaring, "I will toss Wasea about like a rag doll for her impudence!"
"Shepard we can't let him go, he's higher than a kite," Daemon said, looking over at the woman.
"A kite?" Thane asked with a perked brow.
"It's…something you fly around on a string, a piece of fabric with wood," He said awkwardly, he never thought he'd had to explain a kite.
The volus apparently didn't understand either, since he didn't respond to it, "I will tear her apart! Hiss my biotics are unstoppable."
"Just go take a nap, we'll take care of Wasea," Shepard said.
"Hiss bah!" The volus said, waving his hand as he started to walk towards the hall "I'll be drinking her biotic rich blood after I-"
Daemon slowly moved forward, nudging the volus just lightly, causing him to fall over on his face. He bent down, seeing if the high alien needed a hand, when he heard the sound of snoring. "He's out of it," he stood back up, brushing his hands together.
"So much for godhood," Shepard said, walking around the body, Kasumi right behind her, still snickering.
Daemon looked down at the volus, thinking it was better to not let him just lay there; he bent down, dragging the body over, setting him up against the wall. The volus didn't even twitch from the movement, snoring all the while. Daemon saw Thane join him, looking down at the unconscious alien saying, "Sleep, and dream of bulbous women."
His eyebrow rose up slightly at the drell, with that serious face he couldn't tell if he was serious or joking. Shrugging his shoulders he nodded his head at Thane before walking quickly to join Shepard and Kasumi who were already opening the door, walking right in.
The room was filled with containers and the same red tanks that Daemon had seen before, but at the end of the room there was what looked like a desk, and an asari in purple armor with a data pad, holding a drink in her other hand like they were no threat.
The asari gulped down her drink, cringing as if it tasted disgusting or burned, putting it down along with the data pad as she said, "Everything's gone to hell since we smuggled that filthy creature off-world." As she spoke she started to walk around from behind the desk, as she got closure Daemon could see the red markings on her face, "First a Justicar shows up," the asari said in a lazy tone, "Now you," her body flared up with powerful biotics as she said, "At least I'll have the pleasure of turning your head into a pulpy mass!" suddenly throwing one of the tanks right at them.
Shepard and Kasumi dived out of the way of the tank, Thane only moved a step back, and Daemon didn't bother to move away from the door, he knew it wouldn't hit him. What he didn't expect was the red dust that exploded from the tank, covering him and Thane in the mess, some of the stuff getting into Daemons mouth as the tank exploded mid inhale. It tasted disgusting, he sputtered, looking down at himself, he didn't feel any-. His head jerked up, feeling the tingle in the back of his neck, frantically he tried to pull his armor off, but it was too late. Pain lanced through his brain, he fell to his knees, he could feel the biotics pouring off his body, but it wasn't enough, his brain felt as if molten lava was pouring through its veins, he was going to burn if he didn't get the heat away. That's when he felt like his skull was cracking before bursting open, images and voices flying in front of his eyes like a movie on fast forward.
"We need med-evac, NOW"
"It's a trap!"
"You sold me out."
"He's lucky I don't think he's worth the bullet…"
"Fuck that!"
"You'll pay for that!"
"What the fuck do you think you're doing Daemon?!"
"Hello son…"
"Tank-Brother!"
"I am the very model of a…"
"An eye for an eye, a life for a life."
"Daemon is down, something is wrong with him, he's seizing!"
The images keep flashing through his mind, but for every image came more and more agony, just when he thought he couldn't stand it anymore, it exploded, sending a scream of pure pain from his mouth before it suddenly stopped.
When he opened his eyes he saw something a white ceiling, feeling something smooth and cool on the back of his neck. He slowly turned, seeing that he was on the floor of a wide large room. Pushing himself up onto his feet, it looked almost like a court room, a large desk in front of a window, and humans in uniform sitting behind it, and they were talking to two people, one of them he recognized just from her back…Shepard? Then everything went crazy, a loud sound coming from outside, and giant purple shaped ships came down from the sky, red beams firing down into the city behind the glass. Everyone freaked out, men and women, running for the doors; he braced himself for the onrushing crowd when they just…ran right through him. His eyes were wide, this wasn't happening now, it was one of his dreams…but so much more vivid than ever.
The people behind the giant desk began to get up to run, but a giant beam struck through the window, obliterating them, and sending the desk flying straight for Shepard. She tried to get out of the way, the man she was with tried to pull her away, but it was too late, they were crushed beneath the desk, not moving. He felt his eyes getting dark after that, stumbling he tried to find something to grab onto, but there was nothing to grab, falling onto his side he looked up at the broken window, hearing the screams in his ears. Everything went black, his consciousness fading away as he felt something warm touch the side of his face.
So ends this chapter, please review, I don't know when I'll be able to get the next chapter up, but I'll try to make it sooner than later, college permitting.