Chapter 19
Death from Above
After a strange dream where he was riding a giant Jake through a sea of stew, little schools of krogan leaping out of the water in pursuit like a very strange-looking pod of dolphins, Finn awoke to find himself staring down at asphalt occasionally broken by deep cracks. The rhythmic movement tugged at his mind until he realized he was slung over Glen's shoulder as she walked down the abandoned road, the mountain ruin not far ahead of them.
"I'm up!" He said groggily, prompting her to start for just a moment.
"Thank God!" She dropped him and promptly collapsed to the ground. "Headache ran out of power about five minutes ago, and you're too heavy to carry on the run."
"Sorry." Finn froze halfway to standing as the last few moments prior to his nap flashed through his mind. "Glen, the Primarch's headpiece. Tell me you got the-"
"Damn straight, I did." Glen pulled the red jewel out of a compartment on her arm-machines.
A feeling of numbness fell over Finn as she handed him the jewel. It was beautiful; a glimmering red orb that caught the light even through Tuchanka's thick cloud cover. Peering into the crystal, he could just make out the shape of an old medallion, itself barely larger than a quarter.
"The Blood of the Krogan." Finn said, a smile spreading over his face. "We did it!"
"Well I'll be!" Hikari's voice made Finn jump. "We actually got the damn thing!"
"We?" Glen asked, hands on her hips, "We didn't do jack. Finn and I got your jewel miss."
"A technicality." Hikari's voice said smoothly. "I was there in spirit."
"Of course you were." Glen sighed and looked at Finn. "So now what?"
"Now we reunite with the others and find the Vault of One … then I can get back to saving the whole galaxy thing." Finn considered what he had just said before letting out a sigh. "I need a vacation."
"You and me both." Glen said, holding out her fist for Finn to bump.
As he did so, Hikari said, "I'd suggest you keep moving; when the krogan find out you've stolen the jewel-"
"Relax." Glen said, cutting her off. "I replaced the Blood of the Krogan with a fake gem."
"A fake gem?" Finn asked. "You just happened to have a fake ruby lying around?"
Glen winced. "Not exactly. Let's just say I'm good at improvising and leave it at that."
That seemed a bit odd, but Finn decided he'd rather not know. "Hikari, let me talk to Jake."
"Why?" Hikari asked, sounding suspicious.
"I need to let him know we're ready for pickup, and he's my only link to the Meridia now that they're in orbit."
"What!? That's not possible!"
Finn exchanged glances with Glen. There was clear surprise in Hikari's voice, all the stranger for its inexplicable presence in the conversation. In truth, however, hearing her surprise brought a feeling of satisfaction to Finn.
"Finn, the Meridia-"
She was cut off in mid-sentence. After a few moments, Jake's voice came over Finn's internal comm. "Is it …it's on? Awesome. Hey, Finn! Can you hear me?"
Worry began to fill Finn. While he felt some satisfaction at Hikari inadvertently confirming his suspicions, that satisfaction was fading with the knowledge that their situation was likely about to get much more complicated.
"Finn? C'mon, man, the jammer's on and everything. You gotta be able to hear me."
"I hear you, Jake." Finn said. "We were able to listen in on Hikari's frequency; you really got the Blood of the Krogan?"
Seeing no use at the point in denying it, Finn said, "Sure did. My new buddy helped snag it without too much trouble."
"Really? Awesome! I'll let everyone know! Send me your coordinates, and we'll pick you up!"
Now that he had been listening for it, he could tell something wasn't quite right. Something about the way Jake spoke seemed off. It might have just been his voice box acting up, or maybe …
Glen looked at Finn strangely when he replied, "Bad idea; we're too close to the capital. We're gonna try to get a little distance first. I'll call you when we're ready."
"But Finn-"
"No time." Finn said, "Look, I'll contact you the instant we're in a good place. Say, is Kyra still helping Noir?"
Finn unconsciously held his breath until he heard Jake say, "Yeah, man. Just trying to get as much fixed on this tub for our getaway."
The satisfaction of a suspicion proved true filled Finn. "Okay. Send my love, would you?"
"Sure thing, Finn. Just … hurry up, okay?"
"I will. Just to be safe, radio silence until then, okay?"
"Sure thing."
When Glen looked at Finn questioningly, he just shook his head. "Okay, Jake. We're on the way."
After a brief crackle of static, Finn said, "We've got a problem."
"I don't understand." Glen said. "What just happened?"
"Apparently everybody's able to hack into my comm these days." Finn said, feeling a little annoyed at the idea. "Whoever was pretending to be Jake has just blocked out Hikari. This wouldn't be so big a problem if she wasn't on the Meridia."
"Ah, I see." They walked in silence for a few moments before Glen suddenly stopped and said, "Wait, wait, wait! Someone's pretending to be Jake? And what was that about Hikari being on the Meridia? Isn't she part of some other gang of thieves?"
"Kyra wasn't on the Meridia." Finn said, "She's on the Ulasomorf back on Ilium. As for Hikari … well, I've noticed a lot of little things. I might be wrong, but it'd be one hell of a coincidence."
"But wait, if someone's using your intercom to imitate Jake, they could trace the signal."
"Oh, yes." Finn said. "They're probably on the way. Fortunately, they probably don't have a firm lock on us, which is why they wanted our position. We're safe … well, safe-ish at the-"
Without warning, Glen flung herself at Finn, knocking him to the ground. A high-caliber bullet flew through the air Finn's head had previously occupied before hitting the ground with enough force to blast a sizable hole in the asphalt. Glen and Finn quickly scrambled over a fallen pylon and ducked down as another bullet flew through the air, leaving a hole the size of a baseball in an old metal sign.
"Friend of yours?" Glen asked as they searched for the sniper.
"I do seem to have a way with people." Finn's eyes caught a slim figure in the distance. "There! On top of the capital building."
Glen risked a quick glance. "Definitely not a krogan. They don't strike me as the sniper sort anyway."
Another shot blasted a chunk of concrete from the pylon, prompting Finn to duck for cover again. "It looks human, or humanoid, not that it helps. I can't see the Blue Suns or Eclipse hating me enough to risk pissing off all of Tuchanka. It might be Cerberus, but again, why waste time on me? Why not go after the Ulasomorf or the Normandy or anything else?"
"Maybe they want you to lead them to your secret base?" Glen mused.
Finn shook his head. "You don't send a sniper to kidnap someone."
"After the League of One Treasure?"
"I don't think they have funding issues."
Another shot pierced the pylon directly between Finn and Glen and buried itself in the ground a few feet away.
Finn and Glen traded glances as they realized their cover wasn't going to last much longer.
"So," Glen said, "You have a plan, or should I …?"
"By all means." Finn told her.
Nodding, Glen stood up, raised her arms and opened fire. Even with the distance between them, Finn could clearly see the sniper duck down to avoid the thick rivets firing from the strange arm-gauntlets Glen referred to as Headache.
"Nice shooting." Finn said, patting Glen on the shoulder. "Now we run?"
"Mind reader, that's what you are. C'mon!"
They didn't make it far before the sniper recovered. When the bullets started to hit the ground in front of them, Glen said, "Sorry!"
"For wha … hey!"
Glen picked up Finn and slung him over her shoulder with a grunt. From his new vantage point, Finn got a good view of her metal boots flaring to life. She didn't run; her movement was more like that of someone wearing inline roller skates, only much faster. The sniper took a few more shots, but Glen's movements made them a difficult target to anticipate.
The sniper was following them on a flying vehicle that vaguely reminded Finn of an old Earth motorcycle, only without the wheels. Easily evading the ruins of the highway, the sniper continued firing as she pursued Finn and Glen. Two other chasers joined her moments later, these merely hovering over the highway. The riders appeared to be wearing the same one-color uniform, leading Finn to wonder if they were part of the group that had imitated Jake.
The roads near the mountain ruins were in better repair, no doubt having benefited from the rebuilding effort. While this meant there were less obstacles to give Glen and Finn cover, it was good for speed; Glen leaned forward, her speed increasing exponentially as blue light flared from the soles of her boots, leaving a trail in her wake.
Finn saw the sniper take aim directly at him. There was no cover in sight and no time to warn Glen. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl, and he found his perception unusually heightened; the sniper was an asari. Inexplicably, Finn could see the blue skin of her neck where her helmet didn't quite meet the red leather of her jacket.
Purple filled Finn's vision as a small ship swerved from beneath the elevated highway and flew straight toward the chasers. The riders went in all directions, especially the sniper, who didn't have time to get out of the way.
"Nice!" Glen called out as the remaining chasers didn't continue their pursuit. "Nice to know we have friends."
"Yeah, friends." Finn stared at the purple ship as best he could. He couldn't say he was surprised when he saw it grow larger in his vision.
"Don't want to alarm you." Finn told her, "But I think our friends want a word."
"Yeah, that's about right. Any idea who they might be?"
"Not a clue." Finn lied. He recognized the symbol on the front of the ship only too well.
"Glen hazarded a glance back. After a moment her eyes went wide. Without a word, she started running even faster. Glen glanced up at the purple vehicle; it was still a good distance away, but he could just make out someone leaning out of the side window holding a rather bulky-looking weapon.
"Rocket launcher." Glen said, fear in her voice. Finn couldn't blame her; it wouldn't take a sniper's eye to cause a problem with a weapon like that. Even as his fear grew, however, Finn realized that he recognized the weapon, specifically the massive sub-woofer speaker. "It's not a rocket launcher."
"What? Well, what is it then?"
Unearthly loud dubstep flooded the air moments later. Glen didn't have time to react to the sudden music, however; the ground in front of Glen broke apart as though caught in an earthquake. Sparks scraping from her boots, Glen swerved just in time to avoid the glowing blasts of music-charged energy that were quickly tearing the highway to shreds. Finn tried to shout over the thunderously loud music to no avail. After a while, he gave up and held his hands over his ears, trying desperately to block out the deafening dubstep.
They were near the mountain now, and heading quickly toward the warehouse that housed Tuck and his kitchen. As they drew near, Glen took a flying leap off the highway and flew toward the same vent they earlier used to escape the warehouse.
The ship couldn't follow through the narrow opening, but that didn't stop Finn and Glen from running until they had put some distance between them and their pursuers.
"Thank God for that." Glen said as they climbed out of the vent just outside Tuck's kitchen. "My eardrums are still ringing. What kind of weapon was that, anyway?"
"Dubstep gun." Finn told her. "Weaponized music. I guess the bass vibrations didn't go with the old road that well. Still, it's not usually fatal; they probably weren't out to kill us."
"Very relieving." Glen said dryly. "And who exactly are they?"
"Not sure. Anyone could build one with enough creativity and intelligence." He let out a chuckle. "That said, I haven't seen one since-"
"-since Steelport?" Asked a deep voice with a thick Australian accent.
Finn looked up to see an Asian woman. She gave him a crooked grin before hefting her weapon and firing something at him. Finn caught a glimpse of something small, pink, and tentacled before the object hit him in the face and turned his world black.