"And then I aimed at his head. Too bad he was out, would even better for him to watch as I was about to blow his head off. I pulled the trigger and his filthy mind splatter all over the place." Zaeeds voice and chuckle rang in the mess hall.
John walked into the scene where old mercenary was sitting at the table, with glass in his hand, surrounded by crewmen and Kelly. Gardner was also listening in from his kitchen island.
John wanted to remind him that Max did all the dangerous work but he changed his mind. Old man waited 20 years for this moment, let him bask. He will be loyal now to the bone and that's what mattered. Shepard glanced at Max sitting in the corner with Tali. After taking tray from Gardner, John decided to join them.
"Hey Max, Tali" John sat near them and attacked scrabled eggs. Max nodded without stopping chewing on his pancakes while Tali put down her tube with meat paste.
"Shepard, good to see you. Heard Zaeed's story, quite a tale. But I guess you two were more involved than what he says right?" She said with her usual slight stutter.
John stopped eating and smiled, "Well actually this was different, Max did all the planning and heavy work. I just followed trying to fit around"
"Don't sell yourself short brother. You made an impression on leader of Blue Suns while I left you on your own. And single handedly fought through guards and mechs" Max laughed. "You should see him Tali, all in black suit, look that kills, a even saw a few women gawking at him." Tali let out a chuckle. Little nervous one though. The idea of Shepard surrounded by women set something inside her mind.
"I'm sure you enjoyed it." She tried to turn it into joke.
"Believe me Tals, some empty eye-candies are not in my taste" Shepard smiled. "And according to Max, most of the guests there were criminals. That's a huge no-go"
Shepards and Tali laughed.
"Commander, Illusive Man called for briefing room. Marked very urgent." Joker's voice was a blessing for Tali, awkward situation was to end. "I'll see what Illustrious Dick wants" John smirked and left.
"I-I better go back to engineering" Tali said and huffled from mess, leaving Max intrigued. He traded tray for steaming cup and sat back to his spot.
"Hey" familiar chirp made Max smile. He saw Kasumi sitting next to him. "You know, about yesterday..." she started but Max only put his cup down on the table and looked at her.
"Dunno what you mean. I just went there for a drink to unwind, had little small talk and left. You were after mission, needed some peace so you locked the doors" He winked at Kasumi.
Asian woman mused for a while. Max was holding her while she broke down and ultimately fell asleep. She woke up on the couch, covered by sheets from her bed, doors were locked and a message on her omni-tool contained a password to open them from inside. She felt awkward and puzzled.
Max was nice and kinda cute, not really serious, that matched her cheerfulness, and he showed resolve at Hock's mansion. But she just officially lost Keiji and...she felt weird. They were kinda flirting, her and Max, but more just for fun. It's not like there was any way for it to be something else than a fling... And they both were not the 'just a fling' types. But still, he was smooth, really getting to her and that was an achievement itself. She'll have to think about some time...
"Hey! 'Sumi! You didn't slept well kawaii? " Max looked at her, and before she could react he shoved his cup in her hands. "Chocolate, no milk, little something special you like" he said and left the mess hall grinning. Kasumi just sat there, holding cup, her eyes huge from shock. He just called her cute, and it felt nice. She took a sip. Chocolate and a bit of...cinnamon? How would he know?
/.../
"Shepard, I need you on the move. Turian patrol managed to disable Collector's ship. This is our chance to board it and extract any data." Illusive Man's voice welcomed Shepard the moment uplink was established.
"I saw that ship, how a turian patrol could possibly disable it?" Shepard narrowed his eyes. The Pupeteer was playing him.
"Perhaps your attack on Horizon damaged it and turians only added to it, they got destroyed but that's not important" Illusive Man replied dismissively. "They're inactive but surely making repairs as we speak. You need to get there before they disappear"
"Send coordinates and we're going" Shepard relented. It was reeking a set up but he knew they needed intel.
"Already sent. Find a mainframe and connect EDI, she'll do the rest." Illusive Man terminated link.
Shepard only shooked his head. "EDI, set us on the Collector ship. All operatives to the briefing room ASAP!"
/.../
"A disabled Collector ship? That chunk of rock was huge, how turians would disable it?" Max raised his eyebrow.
"it's a moot point, Commander, we need that data" Miranda piped in.
"Miranda, I remind to get your head out of your ass. Your boss just sending us to board enormous ship. We're supposed to go in blind, in a handful and extract data. This is bullshit despite the fact we have to do it." Shepard retorted annoyed at XO's blind faith.
"So how we play it Logan?" Max broke the silence.
"Split in two teams. I'll lead Grunt and Kasumi with me to the mainframe. Miranda will lead second team. Your objective is to set demo charges and cause as much damage you can. Max? Make 'em strong. I want a damn crab enchilada there." Shepard finished with a chuckle.
"I hear you bro." Jester was already sporting a harlequinn's smile. This'll be good.
"I want you all ready half an hour before ETA. Got it?"
Everybody went to prepare, only Garrus stood waiting for the room to empty.
"Okay I gotta ask, Why Miranda leads other team...And what's crab enchilada?" Garrus was both nervous and lost in human expressions that flew there.
"I can't keep her here. If she's so perfect let's see how she'll do. If she screws up I'll space her. And the other one goes... You'll see once it go off" Shepard supressed chuckle and went to find Tali.
/.../
"Hey Tals! How's it going?" Shepard shouted startling his quarian friend standing behind her. She yelped and swung a wrench at him.
"Kheelah! You scared me Shepard!" Tali stared wide eyed on Commander.
"Sorry Tals, guess it's Max's influence" John chuckled. "Didn't mean to be rude. Anything okay here?"
"Yes. Core is stable and running. Ken and Gabby are nice. Actually nobody's been openly hostile to me. A few glances maybe. I'm surprised."
"Commander's iron hand hold them in check. Nobody touches my favourite quarian friend" John gave sheepish grin. Tali felt a wave of heat. She didn't knew she ranked that high in Shepard's books.
"S-So...W-What's up?" Tali stuttered wringing her hands. Nervous tick she had whenever talking to Shepard. "Can I h-help you before the mission?"
Shepard smiled. She sounded so cute while she did that. Even better than Liara. Years ago he would dismiss her as awkward, and an alien. But now he felt nice warmth, talking to her even on SR-1 was calming.
"Oh just checking. Seeing if you need anything."
"No! No- I mean I'm good. That shotgun is great, did a few scans and it's a powerhouse. Max told me you ordered it for me?" Tali was still in disbelief.
"Yeah, I thought of a little welcome gift, and geth tech just rolled in then." Shepard only shrugged. He made that decision on a whim, to placate Tali for Freedom's Progress.
"Kheelah, nobody gave me a tailored gun. Actually nobody gave me nothing. Ever. Untill you" Tali blushed behind her visor. Shepard only laughed.
"Welcome back to the crew Tali. I take care of people close to me." He added with a wink. "Okay I gotta go, be ready!" He left right before Tali had a meltdown. She just stood there dazed with Shepard's treatment. He was always kind to her but spended way more time chatting with Liara. Tali envied her. She envied her about Shepard, about her looks, about how she could walk around without damn suit...
Tali sighed and shooked her head. Damn suit and girlish fantasies...
/.../
"The ship's dead, Commander" Joker reported. Shepard glanced at enormous dreadnought. He could swear that he saw similar shape when he got spaced.
"Teams are ready Commander" Miranda reported through comms.
"Be there in five" John replied.
In the shuttle bay two teams already formed. Infiltrators were seating inside first shuttle while demolition team lounged around. Shepard walked in and everybody turned to him.
"Miranda, get your team to the shuttle. enter through coordinates send by EDI. Set charges where you can and go back defend shuttle. If it is a set up I'll need you to make some noise to take heat off from us." Miranda nodded and motioned at her squad.
"Max? How are we're looking brother?"
Jester only pointed at stack of IED's. "They look nasty but I poured every ounce of awesomness I could spare at those. They have chemical fuses hidden inside. You can't disarm it and I installed anchors. Once set, only way is fun way."
"Alright, set them on anything important and give us 30 minutes once I'll give you signal. I want to have at least half an hour after first shot not before. Got it?"
"Gotcha"
"Okay, load up!"
"Hey 'Sumi!" Jester shouted to first shuttle before going. "Don't get killed!"
"You too, Funny Man!"
/.../
John flew the shuttle musing about possibilities what could wait on them there. Once deployed in designated place, he looked around. Whole place looked like a carved out rock cave.
"Creepy place. Like tombstone." Kasumi muttered. Despite wide spaces whole ship had a claustrophobic vibe.
"Like ship made from rock and added tech to it." Grunt commented.
"Let's move, keep eyes peeled for any console"
Team moved in complete silence through ramps and corridors. Everything dead and empty.
"Commander, come in." Joker's voice rang on the comm.
"What is it?"
"On a hunch I got EDI to make some scans on this ship. She says it's the same that attacked Normandy!"
"Same ship dogging me for two years? That's stalking and not in the fun way." Shepard tried humor but sounded flat. If these are the same fucks that killed him, then it's payback time.
"Commander? We're set. We located some hard points but Max wants to talk to you". Miranda's voice got cut by Max's, "Logan, we're good but that's manual work. We're lined along charges and will set them off one after another while retreating. Just say when."
John picked up the pace. They stumbled upon few opened Collector pods, but containing Collectors, and a console nearby. Kasumi walked up to the console while John glanced at the pods.
"A Collector here? They experiment on themsleves?"
"Shepard. I examined the data from the consoles. The Collectors are actually a clones after extensive genetic re-write. But their DNA matches only one signature in known Universe...Prothean" EDI's statement caused Shepard to gasp.
"The Prothean didn't vanished but turned into Collectors?" Shepard shooked his head in disbelief. Liara would cry a river if she knew what become of her revered ancients.
"No. After generations of re-write and cloning, there's little left beside basic markers. They're hardly organics at this point of modification." EDI explained.
"Broke and turned into slaves. Death is mercy." Grunt growled.
"Let's move, once we'll find the console we're falling back, leaving them a big surprise." John gave signal to move.
/.../
While Shepard was uncovering revelations about Collectors origins, Miranda led team through labirynth of corridors and halls. Using NavPoints from EDI, Team was spreading leaving operative near each demo-charge. Finally it was only Max and Miranda left. Cerberus prodigy called Shepard and reported they're ready. Now only wait for signal. She was checking for confirmations from each one every 2 minutes, they we're close enough that in case of ambush they can come to help in time.
Miranda crouched behind a pillar and watched Max tinkering with charges set along some pipes and valves. The silence and lack of any enemy was disturbing. Despite importanty of mission, pressure riding on them and unnerving atmosphere, Max looked and acted like nothing bothered him. He was boldly singing some rude song on the shuttle and even now he was swaying his hips lightly.
"Ass" Miranda muttered forgetting that line to all team was open.
"So that's where your eyes went?" Jester's chuckle made her slightly blush of embarrasement. That cocky bastard was unbelievable.
"Focus Max!" She only replied.
"Aw come on, why so serious?" He stopped fiddling with explosives and sat next to Miranda.
"All set?" Lawson asked coldly.
"Yep. We're all good, since Logan's signal we'll have 30 minutes to leave this graveyard or we're cinder." Jester spoke with happy tone.
"You sure this'll be enough to blow it up?" Miranda tried to throw him off balance talking shop.
"Tell me miss Perfect, how many Collector ship you visited? Thought so. So don't try act all hoity-toity on me just 'cause you have higher IQ or degree from fancy school." Jester lost his charm and spoke with cold confidence. "I'm only one who can pull this off since only I can arm those IED's safely. And maybe don't try discussing blowing if you don't wanna embarass yourself"
Before Miranda could answer to that outrage a Shepard's voice broke in.
"Miranda? Tell Max to start the show, I'm about to connect EDI to the console here"
Jester walked up to the charge and pulled a safety pin from it using intricate key. "We have 30 minutes before your asses become bigger than your egos!"
"Everybody look alive, we'll trace back arming charges and retreat to the shuttle." Miranda ordered and ran with Jester back to another set of explosives. They saw Collectors appearing suddenly from latches behind them. Running away while joining up with other operatives they put supressive fires while Max was pulling two pins from each box with cylinders attached to it.
Miranda noticed along the way that Max was completely zoned out and sang to himself while arming bombs and throwing a grenade at enemies occasionally. They were getting close to the shuttle when Max went totally mad.
All my life they let me know
How far I would not go
A grenade flew into group of husks that just appeared.
But inside the beast still grows waiting
Chewing through the ropes
Set of pins got pulled while Miranda along with group was shooting back at Collector grunts.
Who are you to change this world?
Silly Boy!
No one needs to hear your words.
Let it go.
A kick staggered and a spike from his wrist went through head of a Collector who appeared right next to Miranda. Max moved in a way that left Miranda agape.
Carnivore! Carnivore!
Won't you come digest me?
Take away everything I am.
Bring it to an end.
Max continued unfazed but stopped when Commander yelled through the comms.
"Miranda! We're pinned! Husks are coming, we need support!"
"Miranda! Get to the shuttle! I'll take Jack and pull them out!" Max only grabbed Jack and they ran into corridors.
"To the shuttle! We go and give cover from Shepard's entry point!" Miranda ordered.
/.../
When John gave order to Max, he plugged EDI into the console that stood on the pedestal overlooking a wide hall filled with pods. After connection, EDI's avatar appeared for a second on the console then went off. A machinery next to them started up and Joker's panicked voice rang, "Commander, the ship is powering up!"
"Oh crap!" Kasumi turned around to see the only doors available just closed.
"EDI, open doors!" Shepard yelled.
"I'm currently fighting over 7 thousands viruses attacking my nodes. I'm tasked to capacity." EDI replied and after few seconds the doors opened. But right behind them enemy waited.
"Open fire! We're breaking through! Stick close, Grunt you first, Kasumi use any grenades you have!"
Running from cover to cover and breaking through enemies just enough to leave them behind, led Shepard's team back to their shuttle. But last doors were still closed and from side corridor husks began to arrive. A relentless horde of howling metallic corpses.
"Miranda! We're pinned! Husks are coming, we need support!" Shepard shouted praying that the'll get there in time. Then one of husks broke into run. This one was different, instead of metallic blue, it was covered in red mass and looked to be on fire. When Shepard shot the straggler, Husk exploded sending shockwave that knocked Commander on the ground.
The husks were closing in and situation looked shitty when a familiar bang of grenade announced that Jester's toy went off. John saw how explosion and biotic shockwave ruptured bunch of husks 5 feet from him.
"Move bitch! You wanna live forever?!" Max's voice and arm pulling him up woke John from stupor. "We gotta get out from here now!"
Doors opened but between the team and their shuttle a squad of Collectors was waiting.
Shepard hit the deck and tried to formulate orders when a ball of plasma flew near him.
"Shepard! We're here!" Tali's voice was like a blessing.
"Run! Get to the shuttle!" Miranda's voice made them all run.
When both teams boarded shuttles and beat feet from Collectors ship they heard a thounderous roar and felt whole ship trembling.
"That...was what happened on Floating Bombay space station when they served crab enchilada..." Shepard gasped while Jester laughed. Oh memories...
/.../
"What do you mean signal was fake?" Shepard was pale from anger. EDI had very interesting news when they ran into hyperspace before Collector ship could fire at them.
"The turian message about Collectors originated from their ship. It contained turian encryption but corrupted. Illusive Man would surely know it's a trap" EDI patiently replied.
"He must've had good reason for not telling us..." Miranda muttered.
"Motherfucker better have some answers and have them fast" Shepard started but EDI chimed in announcing Illusive Man on the line.
When John stomped into holo he saw smug bastard grinning. Only impossibillity to do it through QEC was keeping John from reaching and breaking Cerberus leader's neck.
"Shepard, great work. EDI confirmed my assupmtions-" he started but Shepard interrupted him, "Stop right there, You set me and my team up. Detail that turian message was fake slipped through your mind or you had other plans?" John was oozing fury. But Illusive Man only narrowed his eyes.
"Don't take that you know me or my plans Shepard. Collectors needed to feel the upperhand otherwise they'd knock you in ball of fire. I did what I had to."
Shepard only crossed arms on his chest.
"EDI confirmed our theories. Collectors are set up behind Omega-4 Relay. A relay that no-one ever come through and back. We suspect they're using a uniqe type of IFF that allows safe passage." Illusive Man continued.
"I was just on the damn ship. Maybe it was along the way!" Shepard was barely controlling himself.
"EDI just confirmed it. And you could run out of time looking for it. I'll now devote my resorces looking for that IFF. In the mean time you complete your crew and make yourself all ready. Without full commitment you stand no chance. Even you Shepard. And while you're at it, inform your team that I don't risk any assets unnecessarily"
"Yeah..." John turned around and walked out before Illusive Man could hung up on him.
/.../
"So it was a set up for 'greater good' " Max made mocking air quotes.
"I knew he had to have reasons" Miranda spoke but silenced seeing Shepards glare.
"I don't give a fuck! I do the dirty work and expect intel. Good one. Nothing more. If he'll pull this again I'm turning this ship around and going after his ass." Shepard noticed smile at Jack's face. Girl must've really hate Cerberus. And Miranda.
"Everybody chill..." Max's voice broke everybody's musings. "We got out, alive and with free time. How bout we dock to let out some steam? Just saying?"
Shepard nodded. "Right, that was the plan before this whole mess. Illium has all we need now and two recruits there, so that's where we going. Few days at least. In the meantime report any injuries to Chakwas and forward any supply lists to Miranda."