Fear Of Bugs
John woke up with a sudden jolt. He soon realized he was lying face down on a smooth, cold surface.
Then he heard a quiet, surprised voice with a heavy Russian accent. "Huh. I must be getting delirious. How did you get down here?"
John opened his eyes and turned to lie on his back to get a better view of the place. It was a rather small room with paneled floor, ceiling and walls. The walls had wide windows. Through the windows John could see a large cavern with metal pillars supporting the ceiling.
He turned his head to see a man sitting on a chair, who was staring at him with a tired expression, looking too exhausted to have any stronger emotions at the moment.
"What do you mean, you're delirious? I'm right here," John told him, waving his arm lightly.
"Maybe you are real after all then. All I know is that the Hot Labs are sealed, and I woke up to a bang and a bright flash of light. Then I noticed you on the floor."
"Wait, Hot Labs?" John suddenly asked with increasing concern. He quickly sat up. "That sounds awfully familiar. Now that you said it, this entire place looks suspiciously familiar."
"So you have been in Peak 15 before, have you?" the man asked, suddenly becoming a bit livelier.
"Oh, you could say that," John answered vaguely. "Say, why are you down here alone like this? And why are the Hot Labs locked down? As much as I know, something really bad has to happen for this place to get locked down," he asked.
The Russian slouched against the chair, having lost all his enthusiasm after the sudden questions. "The Hot Labs are locked down because of loose bio-contaminants. Namely, the rachni are loose and are wreaking havoc. I am down here, because I was the only fool who got left behind. Before I knew it, the bugs were loose, and the elevator was locked." He sighed sadly. "My mother always said I would meet a bad end," he added as an after-thought.
"Isn't there a way to purge the threat? If I remember correctly, this place should have some sort of failsafe or contingency in case a research object goes out of control," John said.
"Well, there is a neutron purge, though you need an access code to activate it. Lucky for you, I have one on me," the man said, standing up carefully. He then stumbled over to John, and gave him the access codes needed to start the purge. "Remember, that thing has a time limit. The elevator is locked right now, but the facility's VI will unlock it for anyone with this code."
John nodded. "Stay here, and rest. I'll take care of this."
The Russian nodded, and went back to his chair. John walked to a door, opened it, and stepped into the control room. John went over to a terminal, and looked for a button to activate it. Suddenly, the VI hologram sprung to life.
"Welcome. It appears that you are trying to activate the controls. If you are incapable of manual control, then you can use verbal commands directed to me." The VI seemed damaged. Its hologram representation was spinning around, and occasionally flickered to suddenly appear two meters up in the air, before coming back to its original position.
"VI. I want to activate the neutron purge."
"Warning. Neutron purge will eradicate all organics inside the Hot Labs. Neutron purge- A moment please."
John subconsciously stepped back from the terminal when the VI cut its own sentence off for some reason. Then he decided to finish the sentence himself.
"Yes, neutron purge needs an access code. It's right here." He then presents the access codes to the VI.
"Access code is correct. Ini- A moment please," it said.
"I apologise for the inconvenience. A momentary error happened within the system. Please present the access codes."
John showed them again.
"Access code- A moment please." John was slightly frustrated now.
"I apologise for the inconvenience. A momentary error happened within the system. Please present the access codes." Then the VI hologram suddenly spins at high speeds for a few seconds.
John started frowning at that point. He figured that the VI must be more damaged than he remembered from the games. He presents the access codes once more.
"Access code is correct. Initiating neutron purge. Time until neutron pur- A moment please," it said again
"I apologise for the inconvenience. A momentary error happened within the system. Neutron purge activated. Warning. Error occurred within the computer systems. Activating emergency protocols. Time until neutron purge: 30 seconds."
John's eyes widened at that. He stood there, staring at the VI for a full 5 seconds, when it suddenly adds: "Warning. Ventilation clogging detected. Opening all ventilation tunnels in the Hot Labs."
He suddenly heard scratching from behind the panels, and quiet screeches.
"Warning. Time until neutron purge: 15 seconds."
John makes a run for it. Completely panicking, he makes a bee-line for the elevator, barely even noticing the rachni popping in through the vents.
He was about to warn the Russian still sitting in his chair, only to see the man get pulled into a vent by a tentacle.
He ran into the elevator, and slammed the button with his shoulder. The doors closed, and the elevator jolted, and started moving upwards. John slowly slid down the elevator wall, sighing in relief.
Then the doors opened, and he saw a bunch of people staring at him with wide eyes.
He immediately recognised Commander Shepard, Kaidan Alenko and Liara T'Soni. Then he saw the Peak 15's guard captain, Ventralis, and his men.
John immediately rose his finger, pointed it at them, and yelled: "Shepard, Benezia's lackeys, 12-o'-fucking-clock!"
Ventralis was too hyped up on adrenaline boosters and caffeine to play it off as the ramblings of some unknown madman, and suddenly pulled out his weapon. "Open fire!" he got to yell, before Shepard's team killed them all in less than 3 seconds.
John walked out of the elevator, only to be stopped by Shepard. "Who are you, how did you know these clowns were Benezia's guys, and how do you know my name?"
John smiled at the myriad of questions, and decided to answer them in order. "My name is John, and I just purged all the rachni in the Hot Labs. I have been here for a while, and I know who Benezia gives orders to, and who doesn't know your name? You're the first human Spectre, after all!"
Then Liara spoke up. "Shepard, if what he's saying is true, then we could use him. He might even know where my mother is right now." She then looked at John with a hopeful expression.
He looked at Shepard for a moment more, and then turned to Liara.
"Benezia is just up ahead, in the chamber where they hold the rachni queen. But be careful-" Kaidan cut him off suddenly, waving his arms madly. "Wait, did you just say there's a rachni queen in here?"
John looked at him, bemused, and answered. "Yes. That's exactly what I said. Now, Benezia is over there, but has an entire commando unit and a bunch of geth with her. It won't be easy for you to fight her."
Shepard nodded, and was about to motion for her team to move forward, when John stopped her. "And that's why I want to join you. You'll need all the help you can get over there."
She looked at him for a few seconds, and nodded. John nodded back gratefully, and picked up an assault rifle one of Ventralis' men had dropped.
They had been following John for five minutes, when he stopped at a door. "This is it. Benezia should be right here. You ready for this?"
Shepard cocks her gun in the universal "hell yes" motion. Kaidan nods, and Liara simply grips her pistol more tightly.
John opens the door, and they step through. Immediately, an obviously aged asari steps on a heightened platform to greet them.
"Commander Shepard. You have been a thorn in Saren's side long enough. This ends here." Then the asari notices Liara standing behind Shepard, and scowls. "If you hope to invoke sympathy in me by bringing my daughter into this confrontation, then you are sadly very wrong." She turned to her daughter almost disdainfully. "Tell me, what have you told your Commander about me?"
Liara stepped forward, and immediately started yelling at Benezia. "What could I have told her? Recite the best ways to kill an asari matriarch?!"
Suddenly John stepped in front of Liara, seeking to end this confrontation between mother and daughter. "Lady Benezia. Before anyone does anything, I'd like to know something."
The matriarch turned her head towards him, and motioned him to proceed.
Then John started laughing. "Just what in the name of all the Gods are you wearing on your head?!"
Liara looked at him, absolutely shocked. Benezia only huffed at him, and with a motion of her hand, threw him off the catwalk.
The last thing John saw was the ground coming up to him to meet his face.
Then Benezia looked at Shepard, and asked: "Have you ever faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have."
Shepard only rubbed the back of her head awkwardly.
"This could have gone better."
Hell Yes! Another Chapter! Good news for everyone reading this, too! The literature teacher has finally laid off, and hopefully I can get back on track with my own story soon!
I will see you in the next Chapter!