Attention: When I posted a spelling correction version of last chapter, I accidentally replaced it with an incomplete version of this chapter. It took me a few days to notice it. If you didn't actually read the last chapter, go back and do so!
When they were recalled to the landing zone, it was to find all the caskets lined up neatly. There was blood and gore all over from some of the messier deaths they'd had to move, and the sight reminds him of a freshly-used Crucible arena; lots of violent aftermaths, but no bodies to go with them. Shepard had the team gathered near the hammerheads, himself and Thane being the last ones to join.
"Okay that's everybody." She started. She looked particularly angry. "I've just come from debriefing Dr. Archer, and we have a way to stop this thing. We're dealing with a hybrid intelligence; a man plugged in to a VI. He's holed up in Atlas station, south from here, and in order to get to him, we need to cancel the station's lockdown. It can only be done from Vulcan and Prometheus stations, and their staff is dead as well. We're splinting into three teams, Bravo will take Prometheus, and Charlie will take Vulcan. Alpha will infiltrate Atlas the moment you two deactivate your lockdown sequences."
"Vulcan is geothermal plant. Charlie can expect intense heat and dangerous terrain, I want Thane at the wheel." Jacob opened his mouth to protest, but Shepard cut him off. "He has the most experience driving the hammerhead, thanks to everyone's incredibly positive opinions on my driving skills."
"What driving skills?" Tali asks innocently, and the Commander shoots her a brief scowl as a few of the crew snicker.
"Yeah, laugh it Tals. Charlie, I expect constant updates, we know how these things have finicky environment controls, the last thing we need is someone stroking out on us. Bravo will be fighting geth. Prometheus is a downed ship stuffed with dormant geth that could be taken over at any time." She looks like she's trying to fight off a headache. "In fact, I'm pretty sure anything can be taken over at any time. Tali, Mordin, I want you to build some firewalls in those hammerheads, the biggest fucking firewalls you can build."
"I have anti-geth software that should help." Tali says, before going after Mordin, who had started walking the moment Shepard uttered his name.
"Given the volatile nature of this thing, I want all lockdown sequences hit at once." Shepard continues, swaying as if she wants to pace but thought it a poor idea. "Alpha will breach immediately afterwards, hopefully giving Overlord no time to counteract and reinitiate the lockdown, if it's able to. There's likely hacked defense turrets on the route to each station, so whoever you put on the gun needs to keep their eyes sharp and their trigger finger fast. These things are a bitch to fight in."
"It's literally called Overlord?" Garrus pips up. "Joker's going to have a field day."
"I'll put that fire out when I get to it." Shepard states dryly. "Everyone check your gear and be ready. We're moving out as soon as Tali and Mordin finish. Crow?"
"Yeah?" Whatever she needed, he had no doubt he could do it; being out in the open air again, he felt electrified, like his Light itself was eager for something to do.
"Hydrate."
Of course it's that
Things get a little complicated before they even start the hammerhead. They had the biggest team, and they also had Grunt. This led to some passive-aggressive jostling for the passenger seat, and once that was taken, a brief argument over who got to sit in the turret, both of which Crow tried to say out of by just sitting quietly and waiting for them to finish. Thane solved the problem by making him sit in the turret.
"But he's never fired the gun!" Grunt complained as Crow awkwardly squeezed into the gunner seat.
"Jacob taught us." Glint beeps, trying to be helpful.
"But he's never actually fired it." Jacob counters unhelpfully. "You know how chaotic this thing is to drive, all that motion. It can catch you off-guard if you aren't used to it."
"Hunter combat is all about perpetual motion." Crow defends, unsure where his bravery is coming from. This would be over sooner if he kept his mouth shut, wouldn't it? "Running, airborne, sliding, falling, you have to be able to shoot during all of it."
"It's this or let Grunt on again, and I would prefer to avoid a repeat incident." The drell reasoned. "Tali, please continue monitoring for Overlord interference."
It was clever way to end the matter, but it didn't stop Tali from grumbling under her breath, or Grunt from crossing his arms and refusing to put on his restraints, which caused ten more minutes of arguing until Shepard marched over from Alpha's hammerhead and ordered him to wear them. Crow spent this time with his eyes shut, chin resting on the cannon sights, trying to block out the sounds and focus on the void again.
It all became faded background, until Shepard slammed the door shut and broke his concentration.
Grunt engaged his restraints with more grouching about not being able to fire the cannon, and soon they were off. He tried not to think about how stuffy and confining it is in here compared to the open air he'd left behind. His conversation with Thane had been a little more pleasant once all talk of corpses had been dismissed. He'd proven strangely insightful about attempting to tap into the void, with suggestions such as getting more in touch with his Hunter side by imagining himself in the wilds next time he tried to tap into that end of the Light on the Normandy. Meditation advice aside, it had actually felt... good, to talk about the void with someone.
Thane had also asked questions about Hunters in general. What made them different from the other classes, how the Light enhanced them, their ways. Crow had only been able to tell him what Glint had passed down, which was probably not everything he would like to know himself. There were things he probably could only learn from another Hunter; he knew about Vows, how important they were, that there were many to be had. The cloak Vow, Glint had told him, involved taking up the cloak of a fallen friend and swearing a promise by it; usually the promise was for revenge, but it could also be for something else. Perhaps to complete a task the dead had left unfinished, or some other such thing.
But what of other Vows? Things like swearing fealty to a cause, a pack or fireteam? What did he himself do in the face of receiving such promises? Was he supposed to do something? Say something? What did he do? He would probably never know. Even if he had access to another Hunter, it wasn't like they would teach him anything, if the Wolf was anything to go by.
As it stood, there were probably a myriad of ceremonies and traditions that he would never know the details for, but it had been surprisingly refreshing to talk about what little he knew for certain. He wouldn't mind talking to the drell about it again, even.
The hammerhead started moving, jerking him out of his thoughts. It was... far more disorienting than Jacob had made it out to be. The vehicle moved via mass effect generators, so initially he'd thought it would move more like a sparrow. In retrospect, he hadn't ridden many sparrows in his lifetime, just clunky, raggedy pikes, which handled much differently due to their weight.
So he couldn't be too good of a judge, given he'd only seen sparrows driven by others and with decent skill, but the hammerhead moved like a sparrow at coasting speed driven by a one-eyed, one-armed drunk, even with Thane at the wheel. Everyone in the cabin swayed a bit with every movement, and when they encountered their first bit of resistance, Crow was feeling a little nauseas, which he personally thought of as a testament to how unpleasant this all was; he hadn't been motion sick a day in his life, not even the first time he transmatted.
"Crow, immediately to out twelve and 2 o'clock." He primed the gun, and tried his best to fend off his stomach. Hitting the enemy turrets was easy enough; as he'd told Thane, Hunter combat was all about keeping your target straight while moving. It was one of the few things Glint had been able to drill him for, out in the wilds; during the first year of his life, before Spider, the world had been their training ground.
The evasive maneuvers Thane put the hammerhead through were another story. He thought he even heard Tali groan once it was all done, and Crow could taste bile in the back of his throat.
"Is everyone good back there?" Thane asked once it was confirmed all hostiles were down. Crow didn't trust himself to open his mouth, lest something unpleasant take that as permission to eject itself from his body. He reached down from the turret and gave a thumbs up instead. Glint bumped his shoulder and gave him a disapproving look.
"No." Tali groaned. A retching noise came from the passenger seat, accompanied by the sound of a plastic bag. Glint floated down to do who knew what, while Crow pressed his face against the nice, cool cannon sights.
"Babies." Grunt commented as Glint returned to settle in Crow's lap with a plastic bag pinched between his nodes. Crow scowled at him, and he looked up at him with a beep, flaring his shell briefly. Damn it. That was too adorable to be mad at.
Glint always but on a kind front, but he got the feeling his Ghost was actually an evil mastermind.
"Just throw it out the hatch." Thane said, undoubtedly to Jacob. The hammerhead stopped moving so Jacob could do just that, but they were off again all too quickly.
"The inertial dampeners in this one leave much to be desired." the driver commented as they made their way through a rocky tunnel. Is it just me, or is it getting warmer? "Lets hope the heat shielding is better off."
"Charlie, report." Shepard's voice demanded from the hammerhead's radio.
"We're on approach to the geothermal plant." Jacob informed her. He still sounded a little ill. "We've had some problems with the inertial dampeners in this hammerhead, though."
"Bravo reported an issue with their left thruster, and our VI is online when it shouldn't be, keeps going on about data caches that the staff dropped when they were attacked." the Commander informed him. "Be advised, we're going to investigate. Check in when you reach Vulcan."
"Understood." Jacob grunted. The rest of the drive through the tunnels was only interrupted by a couple of LOKI mechs that Crow blew up with one shell. After that, Thane maneuvered them through the rocky terrain until they reached a venting station. At this point, Crow was trying his absolute hardest now to throw up, and due to debris blocking the usual way up, soon it became apparent that the only way to press forward was by riding an exhaust ejection.
That nearly did him in. The way it heated up the cabin despite the shielding didn't help. He was really considering opening that bag just in case. They were met with another turret, which was destroyed in short order, but then they saw their next obstacle.
"Shit." Jacob cursed.
"Language." Glint chided quietly, also examining the situation before them. It was a massive lava flow, broken up by obsidian chunks that crashed and cracked together like ice floes as the molten material made it's way along sluggishly.
"That stuff will melt us, shielding or not." Tali said. "But those rocks breaking it up might be put enough between us to work."
That did him in. At least he managed to open the bag in time.
"Damn it, Crow!" Jacob exclaimed. Glint made a confrontational buzzing noise, and, blood pounding, he shakily put a hand on his Ghost to stop him from saying anything they might both regret later. "We can't open the hatch out here!"
"Sorry." he mumbled. Of all the times his body could choose to fail on him.
"We'll have to move quickly, then." Thane said dryly. "Tie that bag off tightly, just set it under the seat for now and rehydrate."
Again, with the hydration! It was like everybody was channeling Glint, honestly. On the plus side, he felt somewhat better now that he'd let it out. With that nasty business taken care of, all they had to do now was cross an active lava flow.
"Brace yourselves." Thane warned as he brought the hammerhead closer. The hammerhead screeched a heat warning, and the air was becoming incredibly stuffy, making it feel like there wasn't any breathable air at all.
When Thane brought them across, it felt like he was boiling alive in his armor. Jacob cursed, Tali said that even her environmental suit couldn't keep her cool, and Glint phased, which could in itself stand as a testament to how hot it was; it took extreme temperatures to make even a Ghost uncomfortable.
Grunt just called them all babies again. Thane said nothing, probably choosing to concentrate on not getting them melted outright. The crossing took less than a minute, but it was probably the worst, most stressful thing Crow had experienced since the Celebrant tossed him. Each jump came with the possibility they would all die, and he wasn't entirely sure how Glint would be able to rez him from a melting wreck that was sinking into a lava flow, let alone how he might escape the situation if that were to happen.
They made it, though, and hopefully he wouldn't have to experience the stress of it again. The fact they had to ride another vent didn't help with their overheating problem. The vomit smell getting worse with the heat only added to Charlie team's overall misery.
The next problem was that, yet again, the way forward was blocked, but a vent workaround was feasible. Unfortunately, the vent wasn't active, but there was a waystation next to it that might be able to change that. The promise of possible temperature control wasn't a bad addition, so they pulled into the garage, and cracked open the hatch the moment the doors shut.
Crow grabbed the bag and, unable to find a trash can of any sort, just opted to leave it near one of the Cerberus rovers.
The facility had three LOKI mechs that never stood a chance, as in Crow only had to fire once and the thing was probably already dead by the time he hit it. After the area was cleared, Jacob sent Tali to hack into the controls with Grunt to guard her while the rest of them rested, hydrated, and put some hardtack on their stomachs. In Crow's opinion, the way was cleared a little too fast.
They were met with another turret station along the next path, immediately followed by-
"You have got to be kidding me." another lava flow. One once they were done with it, another after that. Crow didn't know what was worse, the possibility he might die from heat stroke for the first time, the fact that the others didn't have a Ghost if they did, or that they would have to do it again to return the way they came.
The moment they came out of the hammerhead at Vulcan, Glint got on him about hydrating again. It least it sounded normal coming from Glint.
"Alpha, this is Charlie, we've reached Vulcan station." Jacob raised Shepard on team comms once he seemed certain he wouldn't pass out. "We have a minor medical situation in relation to some crappy heat shielding on our hammerhead, we're charlie mike but a shuttle for exfil would be nice so we don't get cooked alive on the way back."
"I'll make it happen, Charlie. We're waiting at Atlas station, and in position to breach. Bravo had to fight their way into Prometheus, but they're in position to hit their override." The Commander told them. "Push on, Charlie."
"Alright, people, we're running behind, let's make this happen." he rallied them. Grunt threw up in response.
Tali called him a baby.
Thane just sighed and downed some more water.
Once Grunt was done throwing up, and the team was more or less recovered from their ordeal in the hammerhead, they moved on through the facility. Jacob had spent the last ten minutes pacing when he should have been sitting and drinking like the rest of them, and he was clearly glad to be moving on with the objective. Crow wondered if the biotic would be in trouble later for being so far behind the other teams in readiness; Shepard seemed fair, but it wasn't too far out to reason she might be upset at the delay. He hoped she wouldn't be too much so, since it wasn't really Jacob's fault.
They move in two-by-two with Grunt and Jacob up front, Crow with Tali behind, and Thane taking the rear. The first hall is clear of enemies, but when they try to press forward in the next room, a valve bursts near the stairs, blasting a canister over and nearly scalding Jacob.
The facility VI gives them a belated warning.
"Nice to know." Crow comments. Glint tentatively lets out a burst scan of their surroundings while Tali tries to trace the controls for the valve with her omnitool.
"I think I found the controls for that valve." his Ghost informs them, tipping his shell back the way they came. "And there's a lot of dormant mechs above us, I think."
"You think?" Tali questions harshly, though she moves in the direction Glint had indicated.
"I don't actually get that much information from burst scanning." His Ghost explains. "Plus, it's really warm in here, and I've never actually met a mech before."
"More than we knew a minute ago." Jacob shrugged. "Tali, you find it?"
"Yes." comes the irritated reply; she's set up at a console around the corner. Pipes hiss, and Crow fights back an unnatural panic that starts gripping chest. Glint nudges his shoulder with a small burst of Light before phasing.
"It's okay, this isn't the pipe room." he reminds him privately through their link. I know. Soon it was safe to pass, and true to Glint's word, there were mechs on the second level. Jacob called contact, and stunned the mechs with biotics while Grunt staggered them with his gun, and the rest of the team made entry behind them and made fore cover.
Jacob and Grunt finished off their mechs before the rest of them needed to step in, but more soon came. Crow struck true with a flaming knife as he moved to different cover, and the mech made a sputtering sound as it's chassis melted before collapsing.
"No explosives or headshots, the last thing we need in this place is for something to go boom." Jacob ordered from his own cover. He wasn't wrong; compromising those pipes could result in someone getting burned badly, even in armor. The potential for bullet holes was bad enough.
Drones come down, and he has to resist engaging them as he normally would harpies or shanks. It was the hardest part of this new reality; if he was going to fight alongside mortals, he had to fight like a mortal himself, which meant using cover as often as possible, fighting methodically instead of ending the conflict with a few careless grenades, and, of course, no running out to chase hostile flying objects just because he finds joy in dragging them from the sky before destroying them.
Then there was the whole teamwork thing. Tali and Thane spent their time taking down shields and calling enemy positions, respectively(he didn't see where Thane went to get his vantage point, the drell was simply there one moment and gone the next), only taking down targets occasionally as they left most of that to the other three.
Personally, he was a little happy to use Hawkmoon again. He had never really liked hand cannons, until he got this one. He'd noticed, every time he fired, that there was a strange, barely-audible sound not unlike a hawk's cry whenever a bullet left the chamber. The strange properties of it's material composition made it feel both cool and warm to the touch at all times, and there was something oddly comforting about the energies of the weapon itself. It built up some sort of Light-based paracausal charge with every bullet fired, before shoving all that stored power into the last round fired.
Whenever this energy built up, it felt like it was... in harmony with him, somehow. He couldn't explain it, it just felt... nice.
The drones were felled in seemingly no time at all, though their numbers were initially intense. Thane reappears as mysteriously as he'd left, Grunt cracked his knuckles and complained about how easy the fight had been, and Jacob urges them back into formation.
They move on, the smell of hot, decomposing human bodies assaulting them the whole way. Crow almost stops to drag one woman onto the floor; she was draped across the railing in a sickening, undignified way, but Thane stopped him.
"We'll come back for them later." the drell assured him, urging him along. "We must focus on other lives now, that have not yet been lost."
He was right, of course, but it still felt wrong. They soon discover a log by the station chief, and learn that he'd ordered his people to sabotage the station as best they could in an attempt to hinder Overlord.
They press on, and are met by more mechs in a room that, thankfully, has less piping. The downside?
He was meeting his first YMIR.
It really was roughly the size of some of the nastier Ascendant Knights, and it had the firepower to back this size up.
"Tali, strip it's shields." Jacob commands. "Thane, get those drone in back. Everyone else, cover them!"
Crow focuses on the LOKIs, while sticking close to Tali as she commands her drone through the battlefield. He thinks she must be very skilled, to get such an obvious target so close to something so big. Soon enough, the YMIRs shield are down, but it's getting uncomfortably close.
"Crow, Grunt, light that thing up!" their leader calls. Grunt lets out a battle cry, and Crow decides to take Jacob's order literally. he hasn't really cut loose with his Light since Eden Prime, and it's been itching to be used. He holsters Hawkmoon, and stokes his Light before sending it down his arms. He takes a final glance at the battlefield, marking his targets, before jumping out and letting a volley of fire loose in the YMIR's direction. The flaming knives hit, explode, and take half of it with them, so he send the second barrage at the remaining LOKIs in back.
He rolls back into cover, Light still eager for more, and takes up Hawkmoon again, trying to pick out any sounds of remaining hostiles as the sputtering of damaged mechs echoes alongside the aftermath of his powers. Nothing comes, and when he peeks out of cover, the squad is staring at him. Well, Tali and Jacob are staring at him, Grunt is pouting as he nudges the foot of the YMIR.
"Well... shit." Jacob says.
"I wanted that one!" the krogan declares, glaring at Crow and pointing at the YMIR. The awoken flushes.
"Sorry." Was that overkill? That might have been overkill.
"Ahem." Thane clears his throat. "The mission?"
"Yeah. Form up." Jacob orders, casting Crow one last, uneasy look. Why do I have the feeling I just made a mistake?
Have you ever wasted a super on a red bar ogre and his one or two acolyte buddies and immediately felt like it was overkill? To be fair to Crow, getting a YMIR off the feild as fast as possible is usually a great idea. Unfortunately, not everyone will be comfortable after actually seeing he has the destructive capabilities of a... well, we don't exactly have a way to measure the energy of a blade barrage, but stuff goes flying,disintegrates, and melts instantly, so it's probably very intimidating from a mortal perspective.
Ebuc: Yup. And one of things Crow is going to have to get used to is the idea that people in the ME universe care about his physical health. In D2, people are rather blaise about Guardians health, everyone's just like 'you're a Guardian, you'll be fine'. Andal Brask apparently arrived in the city after someone sent him across the sea, by himself(this is a newborn individual, keep in mind), and he was in a bad enough state that a slap on the back killed him. The Vanguard don't even have a therapy system(which, let's face it, could have prevented some unfortunate recent events), and over half the character we know are deeply traumatized. Crow's... everything, really, Saladin's hearing gunfire that isn't there, Eris and her literal can of worms, the list goes on. I do plan to expand on the consequences of the Hive portal at some point, but it would be in, probably, the next fic if I write it. Hunter master race.
Knightwolf1875: yeah, I've been trying to add a surreal layer to the scene where David is revealed, kind of trying to make everything seem disassociated and dream-like. Gotta make that feeling of 'this character just got her body taken over' feel. Thank you!
Guest: Thanks!
Fare Thee Well!