Chapter 28
[POV: Miranda]
The clicking of computer keys filled the air in an otherwise silent room, just the way she liked it. She helped design the damn ship, she was allowed to enjoy some simple pleasures for her efforts, and yes she purposely made the holographic keyboard sound mechanical, it was soothing.
Miranda lifted her head at the knock on her door, expecting it.
"Come in." she called.
The door opened and in stepped Shepard. It had been a day since their mission and seeing the … results, I had kindly requested a meeting to discuss it. Shepard sat down in the chair across from me without waiting for an invitation, I ignored her lack of decorum as best I could, no matter how it grated on me. Can't expect proper manners from such a brute after all, she might learn though.
"You didn't bring back Okeer."
"Nope." Shepard said, leaning back into the chair without a care in the world.
"You were sent specifically to recruit him, his experience would have been an asset to this crew, let alone the statistical anomaly that is a Krogan scientist. I sent you off to retrieve a general, and you came back with a baby and news of the warlord's death. Care to explain how that happened?"
"I'd be happy to." Shepard leaned forward, a grim smile on her face. "You see, there was a small thing left out of the dossier, I'd like to think you knew about it and decided not share that information, because otherwise I would have to doubt your information sources, and right after they were proven successful. Okeer was creating clones, tank-bred Krogan. He wanted to fix the genophage, so that can be excused. What cannot is discarding said week-old soldiers, and deciding to use them as meat shields. That's where I have my issue, as you well know I was the one to discover the first instance of this barbaric research, do you perhaps see why I might have had an issue with that?" Shepard's asked me faux-cheerfully, which with the scars was a rather intimidating sight.
"Did he really? I apologise Shepard but I had no idea. We wouldn't have recruited him if we had known, our sources are not infallible, and this is likely a new development. Things can change so rapidly." I smiled wanly at the woman. I knew my words to be false though, Cerberus had been interested in his research, it's why he was one of the recruits. Sure, he was a decent warrior, but he didn't truly stand out amongst Krogan as a fighter, not like Urdnot Wrex or this new being we had on board if the information I received was right. There was a secret program on all Cerberus issued omni-tools, of which both Shepard and Vakarian were using, having lost their previous models. Fury was in fact the only one on board not wearing one, which irked me to no end. The trojan software was meant to spread to all devices it could, but the security on her Omni-tool was rather impressive. I was a little uncomfortable with how invasive the program was in truth, but I could see the purpose it held, and it was just so useful. Not being surprised by betrayal made it easier to sleep at night, that's for sure.
"Sure you didn't." Shepard snorted, but I kept the apologetic smile on my face regardless.
"Moving on from that, it is … understandable why you didn't recruit Okeer, but why did you bring back his experiment, we can't afford to take any risks we don't have to, and he's a major one."
"I see where you're coming from, I do." Shepard sighed, a thoughtful look on her face, "but I didn't want to leave him there, I would have left him to die, or worse. Grunt didn't deserve that, even then I would have done it if not for Fury." Fury? Interesting.
"And what about her made you change your mind."
"She volunteered to watch over him, and if need be take care of him for me." That is … a little hard to believe.
"Fury offered to look after a baby Krogan." I raised an eyebrow at Shepard who just shrugged.
"It came as a surprise to me as well."
"And what makes you think her capable of it? I've seen some of the data about Grunt. He has increased speed, increased strength, more durable skin, an enhanced regeneration. This is when compared to the best the Krogan race has to offer, which is not a low standard." Anyone would have a hard time dealing with that, especially if he went into a bloodrage, which he still might considering he's the first of his kind.
"Fury can handle him." Shepard commented quietly.
"Are you sure? I thought you had doubts about Fury, yet here you are trusting her." I tried not to sound accusing, but I do believe I failed. Shepard had been mulish about Fury from the start, so what changed?
"Miranda," Shepard leaned forward in her chair and clasped her hands together, "I saw what she was capable of. You said she was an outstanding biotics user, which is certainly true. What you didn't know was how capable she was otherwise." Shepard closed her eyes, pausing to remember and I couldn't help myself, I leaned forward a little. "Okeer was using the failed experiments as foot soldiers, and these Krogan were physically capable if a little mentally challenged. It didn't stop them from entering blood rages. At one point on the mission, we were trapped and coming towards us was more than a dozen of these Krogans, all in a blood rage." I sucked in a breath at that, one of the few things stopping Krogans from dominating the galaxy was their low numbers. That, and their lack of ships. They were fierce warriors, and facing even one in a blood rage could be a challenge.
"Fury didn't pull out some sort of massive explosion or singularity, instead she pulled out two Omni blade fabricators built into her armour. She proceeded to reinforce them with a biotic technique I've never seen, then she cut through the Krogans with one swing a piece. She killed all but one, and only because she ran out of Omni blades, they would only withstand one blow."
That's ….
"I don't suppose the Krogan were naked?" not that it would make it much easier to do.
"Heavy armour." Shepard grunted. Holy shit, I didn't know what to say at that. Omni-blades are amongst the sharpest things in existence, and the sharpest weapon physical possible at the moment. They could cut through near anything, or they could if they didn't shatter with only a small impact. Omni blades could only really cut through flesh without breaking, and even then you would only get a few swings with one. They were an assassin's weapon for that reason, but being able to biotically reinforce them is … astonishing.
"The fight was over quickly as well, it only took her about 5 seconds before she was done. I think she was also enhancing her muscles at the same time, there's no way she could have moved that fast otherwise, or in the same way. She's a monster in close quarters."
I was amazed, but also rather pleased with myself. I couldn't hide the small smile that came to my face, vindicated as I was. It was my suggestion that Fury be recruited, and I was the only one who thought it a good idea. That was when we only knew her to be a biotic, but to know she's also a close quarters savant, Fury just got a whole lot more interesting.
"This information is both heartening and worrying. We know so little about Fury, and she would be hard to stop if she ever turned against us. Try to learn more about her, see if there's anything else we can offer her to keep her on board. She just got suddenly more valuable as a heavy hitter on our team, and her current replacement would leave with her."
Shepard frowned at my order but didn't refuse me. At least she could see the necessity, which was something. Her death and resurrection lifted the rose-tinted glasses she wore before, her idealism no longer overbearing. That idealism is partially why she was such a symbol, but it made it much easier when she was prepared to be a little flexible about things.
"That's not exactly an easy task though, closed off is an understatement."
"Just try," I sighed, "and try to test Grunt as well, see if he would be an asset on missions."
"Oh, he will be. Just have to make sure he understands orders." Fury grunted, standing up and turning to leave.
"I'm sure he'll listen intently to his Bosman." I called out as she left, her shoulders tensing at my call. I let myself chuckle audibly once the door shut and the soundproofing was working, that titbit was far too amusing to me. Who knew Fury had a sense of humour under all that anger.
[POV: Jack]
"What training have you been given?"
"I never came out of the pod before you found me. I had some weapons knowledge downloaded into my brain, but it's hazy." He commented, his arms crossed. I sighed, that's what I feared considering his previous showings. I'd just never bothered to ask before now, testing him as it were.
"Then there is a few basic things I need to teach you first, Shepard here volunteered to help, so she will be your opponent while I observe and point out errors. We'll start with a little demonstration, so Shepard, if you would."
"This wasn't exactly what I had in mind." Shepard mumbled, stepping forward into the makeshift ring I'd made. The floor wasn't padded in any way, how else would Grunt learn? Shepard was however wearing armour. It was only fair considering Grunt had nearly light-armour level protection built in.
"Begin." I ignored Shepard's grumbling, and Grunt charged at my command. He took no time to think, or really observe the woman waiting patiently for Grunt to reach her, her hands held up and arms loose. Grunt, seeing Shepard's lack of reaction lowered his head and directed his shoulder at the woman, taking his eyes of her. That was his first mistake.
At the last moment, Shepard reached forward, grabbed one of his arms and swung herself to the left, kicking his leg out from beneath him and throwing Grunt forward. Grunt was able to stop himself from falling, if only through sheer brute strength, but Shepard followed up her throw with a fist to the back of his neck. The solid blow knocked him down to the ground where he stayed for a second before pushing himself up, growling.
"Enough."
Grunt grumbled but returned to his earlier stance with his arms crossed. I think he may be mimicking me as mine are currently crossed as well. Not going to lie, it is a little cute.
"I'm not going to bother teaching you any close combat skills, my personal style wouldn't work for you and you are already decent at brawling, your natural instincts assisting you. I was like you at one point, except I didn't have the size to suit that style. The main issue I want to deal with is tactics."
I uncrossed my arms and began walking around Grunt, having to think about how to word this in a way he would understand.
"First, never take your eyes of your opponent, that's the biggest mistake one can make. Second, observe them, see if they have any weaknesses or any strengths you can use. For example, someone wielding a heavy machine gun can tear thorough you. Third, don't just charge everything, it's a good way to get killed."
"That is the way of my people." Grunt argued, eyes narrowing.
"It's the way most of them die. Charging only works if you're fast enough, it's why a biotic Krogan is so feared, they can perform said charge practically. You should stick to your strengths, so getting close to smaller opponents is a good idea, I'm a big fan myself. It's the way you do so that matters, don't take a direct route, use cover, anything that isn't just charging head on at an opponent that's 5 or 10 metres away."
"… fine."
"Good. Now, you have good instincts in close quarters, so you need experience. You've already fought me a bit, and as you can probably tell I struggle to hold back when fighting, it isn't something I'm used to. You're strong enough that I can't just play with you, but not strong enough to keep up when I get serious. That's why we have Shepard here, she's going to fight you instead."
"I'm just so excited." She deadpans, I ignore her.
"I personally think experience is the best teacher, so I'm going to have you fight her, then when you lose I will tell you what you did wrong. This will continue until you win or I decide you've done enough. Clear?" Grunt nodded, a grin on his face despite it all. What can I say, he liked to fight.
"… don't suppose I'll need the gym today then." Shepard muttered, and then it began. Grunt lost, repeatedly, which was expected. Shepard was exceptionally trained, she could likely take me on if I didn't use my biotics, something to consider at a later time. She beat Grunt with ease, at least at first. Grunt was untrained, but he learnt fast. Once I pointed out a mistake, he never made the same one again. By the time I called the session to an end, he was fighting semi-competently, and I would already consider him a danger in close quarters, if only because his relative lack of experience was backed up by 250kg of muscle. Grunt left for the showers with a happy grin on his face, and more than a few scuffs and marks.
"… fuck I'm tired." Shepard muttered, finally letting herself sit down on a nearby crate. Her face was dripping with sweat and her hair was sticking to the back of her neck. I sympathised with her truly. The amount of energy Grunt had was ridiculous, although he certainly ate enough for it. The day I did this, mostly just testing him, I thought he would get tired before long. I called the session quits long before he was, and I was somewhat out of breath myself at the time.
"I've seen talented people before, I'd like to think I'm one of them but fuck."
"Mhm" I agreed taking a seat myself and just took a moment to watch the woman. She had let her guard down, relaxing around me in a way that she refused to at first, it was … refreshing, for someone to relax around me when they only knew Fury. It was a recent change, and I don't know why.
"Hey Fury, why did you agree to watch over Grunt?" Shepard asked out of the blue. I had been enjoying the silence we had fallen into for a minute, so it took me a moment to register what she asked.
"…"
Why did I agree? I suppose …, I saw myself in Grunt. Our situations were different, that was clear. The parallels though, there was more than a few. I had been saved by Aria, who knows what would have happened to me if not for her, and then I found another like me. Shepard wanted to bring him on board, I knew that, but she was indecisive due to the risk. If a little effort on my part was all that was needed to sway her decision, then I would do it. I also … enjoyed having someone else around to talk to me. Even when I Fury was at her peak, I still had people to talk to, here I had no-one like that, because I didn't trust them like I did the people back on Omega. It helped grunt didn't fear me one bit.
"… Is it why you reacted so strongly to Rana and Okeer?"
I froze, Shepard was … eerily close. She's good at reading people. I could just ignore her but if I wanted her help with my research, I was going to need to give her a little trust. Didn't mean I had to like it.
"It was." Shepard nodded at my response, her eyes watching my form for another minute before she narrowed them.
"And is it also related to why you even came aboard?"
"…"
"You are a frightening woman Shepard. Yes it does, and it is related."
A little trust hm?
"If I ask for your help with something, will you require my reasoning?" Shepard blinked, raising an eyebrow before smiling at me, nodding.
"Depends on what you ask, but if it's not too onerous I don't see why not."
"What do you know about Cerberus?" Shepard's smile froze, and her eyes narrowed once more, glancing around. "There are no microphones recording us, I made sure of it." A jammer from Treena.
"What do you want to know?"
"Everything."
"Down"
I moved down.
"Up"
I moved up.
This repeated over and over again, I was having Grunt do push-ups. It was mostly because he was bored and restless, so I told him to exercise. I'm sitting on his back because I was bored. I also needed a distraction from my thoughts, the information Shepard gave me was … a lot. It wasn't terribly useful to me, as Cerberus was comprised of many different cells according to her, the facility would have been a separate cell from the ones she encountered. Her information had still been useful though, it gave me a glimpse into the organisation itself, and reaffirmed my beliefs about them. Cerberus couldn't be trusted, of that I was sure.
"Double time."
The Krogan grunted at me, then sped up into a rapid-fire motion. I had to try to keep my balance now, the rocking far more violent, but it was also kind of fun. Feeling the muscles shift beneath me was a novel feeling, and my appreciation for Grunt's physique only kept growing. He was so much … better, than the other Krogan's I'd met. He was more intelligent, more willing to listen, and most importantly he trusted me, followed my orders with little complaint. It was … nice.
"Fury! Grunt! We have a …" Garrus burst into our room, only to stop at the sight he found. Grunt also hadn't stopped his exercise either, but this seemed important so I reached back and patted him on the head, then uncrossed my legs and stood up. Grunt stood up as well, his breath finally heavy after goddess knows how many push-ups. I didn't bother trying to keep count after a while.
"… okay, questions for later." Garrus blinked, refocusing his attention on me. "We've had an alert from a colony, they've gone silent and we believe the collectors are there, we're close enough to get there in time. Make any preparations you need to then assemble in the briefing room in 15 minutes." Garrus told us then left to make his own preparations.
"Well now, seems like we have a fight on our hands, your first proper one."
"It shall be glorious." Grunt nodded and I chuckled. Glorious indeed.
…
"We don't know a whole lot about the collectors, but what we do know is enough to be wary. We have no true knowledge about what their equipment will be like, but we can make a few guesses."
Shepard pressed a button and a picture of the Normandy appeared on screen, it was an internal camera. The footage was extremely time-dilated, the personnel visible basically frozen. What was moving was the glowing golden laser that bisected the ship.
"The collectors use an advanced form of beam weaponry capable of that. Thankfully, it could only have been a ship based weapon, but that still means we will likely encounter handheld variety's at some point. The other weapon we know of is the seeker swarms. Mordin?" Shepard finished, sitting down.
"Ah, yes. The swarms are a fascinating piece of biotech. They are numerous, so must be easy to mass produce, and they contain a paralytic effect that freezes the recipient for roughly 2 hours. Incapable of even involuntary movement somehow, cause unknown. I have synthesised an immunisation to these swarms, they should avoid our troops on the ground, at least theoretically."
Theoretically? That doesn't sound encouraging.
"Thank you Mordin," Shepard stood up again before anyone had time to say anything, and I could see a few that wanted to. "Our target is this." Shepard pressed another button and a picture of two massive guns appeared on screen. "These are Guardian lasers, ground based artillery that can take out ships. The colony was supplied a few by the alliance, but they never became operational as they had yet to be calibrated. Our mission is to reach these Guardians and do so, with EDI's assistance." Shepard looked around the room, making sure everyone understood.
"Good, now for team arrangements. Fury, Grunt, Jacob, you're coming with me. We're team one and we will be the ones to go for the guns. Garrus, Mordin and Miranda will be providing overwatch, and assistance in case the seeker blocker fails. They're team two." Shepard raised her hand, putting up one finger for each team, then she looked at Miranda. "Miranda, I will be clear, this is the last mission you go on in that pathetic armour of yours. Get something useful." Miranda scowled back at Shepard but didn't refute her.
"Shepard? We'll be there in five. Might want to wrap things up." Joker interrupted Shepard's next words through the intercom.
"Affirmative Joker, we'll be ready." Shepard called out, then stood up and placed her gun on her back. "Everyone clear on their missions?" We all nodded. "Good. let's move."
The docking bay shook softly during our descent, not nearly enough for me to need to grab the wall, as Grunt did at one point. His balance wasn't the best, but it can't be easy moving around all that weight. The sound of him hitting the ground was loud and easily heard, especially compared to the whisper I made, but then again he must weigh more than 3 times as much as me. He'd been outfitted with a shotgun for the mission, I didn't trust his accuracy otherwise, and I kept him at my side as we move forward through the initial stretch.
The first few minutes were tense, the air swarming with seekers, each of which could paralyse any one of us. Shepard was the only other person here wearing a full helmet, the only one with any sense. I would have made Grunt wear one, but we didn't have any that fit. He came out of the pod in custom made armour, it wasn't exceptional but it was good quality. Pity he didn't come with a helmet too.
"Well, I think the bug repellent worked." Garrus mused, stopping beside me as Shepard called a halt to all of us. This was the place we'd split off from team 2, wanting to make sure the immunisation worked at first.
"That only mattered to the people foolish enough to go on this mission without a helmet, and Grunt."
"Ouch."
I grinned at Garrus' words, they set the mood nicely and eased off the tension. I liked Garrus, that I would admit, maybe not to his face, but at least to myself. He was welcoming to me in a way none of the others were, not even Shepard. She had been wary at first, but Garrus wasn't. It's a pity he was one of the people who knew the least about Cerberus, I asked him shortly after Shepard but he hadn't been able to tell me anything I hadn't already known from Aria or Shepard.
"Team 1, let's move!"
"Don't hit me." I told Garrus as I began walking away.
"I make no promises." He smirked, turning away as well. Soon enough, it was just us four. We moved as quietly as we could, or as quietly as grunt could, through the buildings. They were abandoned, no-one visible. Knowing that just 8 hours ago this was a bustling community made the sight eery, an otherwise idyllic view unsettling. That, and the background noise that was the swarms, can't forget about them.
"Where is everybody?" Jacob asked, peering around with his gun in hand. "The collectors are still here, but I don't see any other signs aside from the ship."
"Because they've already cleared the outskirts. The collectors are probably mostly done or have taken a large portion of the colony already. It's why we need to hurry, they're counting on us." Shepard spoke solemnly. "And don't worry about not finding anyone, they'll be swarming the spaceport, I guarantee it."
We moved quickly, taking no time to investigate, that could always be done later when we weren't on a time crunch. The colony's layout wasn't outstanding though, as we soon found ourselves blocked off in the direction of the spaceport, a building in our way.
"We'll cut through it. Fury, lead us in." I nodded and moved ahead of them in a silent jog, gesturing for Grunt to stay with Shepard. The door on this side of the building opened easily, it was unlocked. Stepping inside, I couldn't find anything ready to jump at me, just the signs of sudden abandonment. I think this was an office of some sort, the desks and chairs hinted towards it. That also meant there was a lot of area's to hide, so I made sure to look around carefully. It was as I found my way to the exit on the other side of the building that I caught something in the corner of my eye, a splash of colour on the otherwise monochrome building. I turned around to get a closer look and raised my fingers to the side of my helmet.
"Shepard, I've found some colonists in here, nothing else. There are likely some drones nearby that will be back for them soon."
"I read you Fury, wait there." Shepard responded back before the others joined me. In the time I waited, I looked them over. They were unharmed in every way, but completely and utterly frozen. A man with his eyes shut and a woman with her eyes open, both likely equally as terrified.
"Fuck." Jacob cursed, seeing the state they were in. Shepard nodded towards me, doing a few checks herself before contacting the Normandy.
"We've found a few civilians inside a building, I'll put it on my waypoint. Come retrieve them if you can."
Shepard paused for a moment, then scowled, taking her hand of her helmet. "Our comms have interference from the swarms, we're effectively cut off from the others now. We can't do anything for these two, other than finish the mission."
"We'll kill the collectors first." Grunt stated, gesturing with his shotgun, and I sighed knowing how unlikely that was, still I didn't say anything. Grunt was the only one who didn't realise.
We continued on from there, opening the exit door carefully and checking for enemies, still none. We weren't that far from the spaceport, we should have seen some by now. I kept my eyes peeled as we moved, but a beam of light struck me from my left, the first sign my Shields screaming at me. I instinctively dived behind cover the moment I realised what was hapening, crashing into the forgotten car harshly, everyone else doing so a moment later. I had been the one leading the party, and thus I was the first exposed.
"Fury, are you alright?" Shepard shouted from her position on the other end of the car with her gun out, trying to find my assailant. Looking at my armour, I only found a small line burned into my armour.
"I'll be fine." I grunted, moving to join her. "But that beam cut through my shield in an instant. I have good shields."
"Shit." Shepard muttered, moving the scope of her rifle around till she finally stilled, then the loud bang of a sniper rifle reverberated through me. "Target's down, but we're going to find more from now on. Let's see what their weapons are like."
We approached cautiously, but nothing else struck out at us so we made it there safely. The collector's head had been blown clean off, and the armour he wore seemed biological, inherent to the species? It looked like a carapace. The only thing of interest left was the futuristic gun dropped next to his corpse. It was massive, and clearly venting a vapour of some sort from an exhaust valve.
"Jacob, you take it." Shepard ordered, throwing it at him after picking it up herself. Jacob caught the weapon, but grunted and bent his knees as he did. The weapon was heavy, unusable by me, and Grunt couldn't aim it.
Humming filled the air an instant later, alongside another sound I couldn't identify.
"Incoming! Get behind cover!" Shepard shouted, dropping behind a solid concrete fence in front of us. It didn't take long for them to be in sight, the electric blue horde approaching standing out. The flying drones came with them, landing among their number.
"Those are Husks," Shepard muttered. What are husks? Doesn't matter. Letting energy flow through my form, I rotated my arms around and collapsed them in front of me, forming a coruscating blue sphere within my hands. I then threw it at a grouping of the flyers, hitting one dead on and capturing several of them, and a dozen husks as well.
"Jacob, test the rifle on the grouping!" Shepard shouted, shooting at the still free enemies. I wasn't sure what else I could do here, a few of the collector's held similar rifles that could strike me down, and I had nothing small that would help here. It wasn't time for some of my bigger techniques, the situation didn't require that. I considered pulling out my pistol, but thankfully Shepard had recognised my plight and was targeting the Collector's, a few of them gone before Jacob's rifle fired. The beam was even more impressive now that I could see it clearly, the golden beam cutting apart the enemies easily before detonating the singularity. This didn't stop all of them, but it did throw them into disarray long enough to deal with the collectors.
"Grunt, with me!" I ordered him, jumping over the barrier Shepard and I were hiding behind just as the Husks were getting close. I channelled some more energy into my hand and slammed into the ground, shooting out a shockwave to blow back the dozen or so close enough. Grunt then opened fire on them with his shotgun, each pull of the weapon blowing away one or two of the fragile beings. I took part with my pistol, as did Shepard and Jacob, but I mainly kept the husks from getting too close while we finished them off, leaving the others to kill them.
"Here's your horde Jacob." Shepard joked half-heartedly, the two joining us as we made our way through the littered corpses.
"Not exactly what I wanted, but this gun sure is nice. Jammed after one shot though." Jacob threw away the beam weapon, shaking his head.
"Or it ran out of energy. The beam it sends out is intense, and I doubt it was easy to miniaturise."
"Possibly, but I'm not familiar enough with them to trust them when shit goes to hell, we'll leave them alone now, maybe try to target them, see if they explode."
Her piece said, we moved on. That was far from the last of the collector's we faced, but it was so far the most. All we found after that was roving patrols, largely just a few of the collector drones at a time. The now familiar sound approaching wasn't any more worrying, and there wasn't any more than normal, but something changed.
As we dropped behind cover again, one of the soldiers began to writhe in pain, limbs jerking around. It's carapace began to glow, golden light shone through before it started to hover.
"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL"
The now changed soldier dropped to the ground, eyes glowing with golden light that matched the veins that now littered its body. What the fuck was that?
"Take it out first!" Shepard shouted, aiming her sniper rifle at it and opening fire. I pushed and pulled the other two soldiers, making sure they couldn't interrupt as the others took out the glowing one. It took far longer than I thought it would though, the Collector absorbing bullets with little effort. It also made no move to dodge or take cover, just letting it happen until finally it burst into flame-like energy and disintegrating. It seemed like that was done, whatever it was, but then a second of the collectors began glowing.
"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL"
The same booming voice echoed once more, that isn't the same being is it?
"Fuck" Shepard cursed, then shouted "Kill the others first!" Gladly. I raised my hands again, channelling far more energy into them than I did previously. This time I performed two simultaneous directed throws, both collectors lifting into the air and accelerating towards each other. They collided with a wet crunch with the glowing one, the two soldiers splattering on his armour, but leaving him relatively intact. Before he could do anything else, a shotgun blast from Grunt splattered him, and this time there was no more collectors left for him to revive in.
"What the hell was that?!" Jacob asked, keeping watch of our surroundings while the rest of us approached the corpses. The two that mutated were gone, a pile of ashes all that remained, whereas the other two were like all the others we'd made today. I have a bad feeling about this golden being, something about him didn't feel right.
"… how is there another …?" Shepard muttered, looking troubled.
"Shepard, do you know something?" She looked up from the ashes she had been staring at, her eyes dilated and her forehead creased.
"I have an idea, yes. That possession is familiar to me, I've seen it once before. I saw it with Saren." Shepard replied, solemn. That name didn't comfort me either, I'd heard a lot of horror stories about the Turian, but little with evidence. "Do you know of the 'Geth dreadnaught' that attacked the citadel?"
"That wasn't a Geth dreadnaught, I know that much."
"Really, you believe it to be something else?" Shepard acted surprised, why is that? "That's a nice change. Still. That ship was a reaper, a sentient machine. It could possess Saren due to some modifications made to his body, cybernetics. The voice was similar as well, and I'm almost certain we're dealing with something like that, which is a problem." Why is it a problem? Wait …
"It possessed a new body after it's first was killed, meaning it knows we're here."
"Yeah, we're about to face a shitstorm." Shepard sighed, looking around us as if searching for it. "Alright, stealth is blown, we're making a break for the spaceport. Move it!"
We began jogging between cover, keeping watch for the inevitable and the inevitable came soon. The humming from the collectors soon filled the air, accompanying by the screaming husks. We were getting close to the port at this point, having faced no more of the roving patrols to slow us down, instead we got to face them all together, joy.
"Garrus, can you read me?" Shepard touched her hand to her helmet, crouching beside me behind a building. Grunt and Jacob were across the other side of the road from us, having no room to stay with Shepard and me. They also wouldn't fit, both Shepard and I were quite a bit smaller than the two, Jacob was a large man, and Grunt was a Krogan.
"We need support, we're on the road to the spaceport but we have a massive group of collectors inbound. Do you have a line of sight of them?" Shepard glanced around the corner, seeing how close they were. "Just hurry." Shepard ordered, disconnecting from her comms.
"Garrus is repositioning, he didn't expect us to begin moving so fast. He'll need a few minutes before he can help us." Shepard grimaced.
"We don't have that."
"No, we don't. Normally our situation wouldn't be that bad, we've got good cover and there's only one angle of approach for them, that is if the collectors couldn't fucking fly! They're going to keep their distance and shoot at us from above while the husks rush us." Shepard bit her lip, her mind racing, attempting to come up with a plan.
Well, this situation is pretty shit. I would almost call it dire if I hadn't been holding back a bit. I didn't want Cerberus to know all of what I was capable of, even if that video somewhat defeated the purpose. Still, I could put aside my misgivings for the colony, we were trying to save so many lives, what is my anger but petty in face of that.
"Leave the husks to me, deal with the collectors."
"There are dozens of them?!" Shepard objected but looked up at me intently even so.
"I can handle it, they're all lined up for me." I stood up, as did Shepard.
"I don't like this."
"Like we have a choice. The collectors are by far the bigger threat anyway."
"Fine." Shepard sighed, but a small grin formed all the same. "This reminds me of good times. Just what are you going to do?" she sounded curious, before telling the others the plan through the comms. Jacob looked incredulous at me but didn't object to Shepard's order. Grunt only grumbled at me getting all the fun. Don't worry big guy, there's plenty more for you.
"Pull a ship out my arse. What do you think? I'll need a boost though, preferably from Grunt."
Shepard nodded, and raised her hand, three fingers extended. She had poked her head around the barrier, seeing how close the horde was. They couldn't be far by what I could hear, I had started to pick up the pounding of feet on the ground. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and focused on the well within me. It was a spiralling core of energy, near endless, at least at the rate I normally used it. My control had improved, but only so much. I normally only channelled a sliver of it, a current that was easy to control. That was what I used for my normal techniques, but that wasn't what I needed now, right now I needed power. And with power, my pool of techniques became limited, so it's time for an old favourite.
"Now!" Shepard made a fist, and my eyes snapped opened. Energy swirling around me in a coruscating aura as I ran towards Grunt, leaping up onto his waiting hands as I built up more and more energy. The energy began crackling when I pushed off his arms, his added strength launching me a dozen metres into the air and it was here that I began condensing the energy. It fought against me with tooth and nail, fighting to run rampant as I condensed it further and further into my raised right arm. It took all my concentration not to let it burn me like it once did, there would be far more dire consequences this time. Even with all I did the arm was still warming up, my fist beginning to burn when I slammed it into the ground, the condensed energy near white in colour. For an instant, nothing happened and I finally caught sight of the horde rushing towards me, the grotesque sight almost … captivating, before it was overtaken by an explosion of light.
The shockwave shot forward from me, quickly hitting both sides of the road, penned in by buildings as it was. This only left one direction for the wave to spread, and it did so, crashing into the husks as it travelled. Their corpses went flying, dozens of bodies crushed or splattered in the wake of my wave. I didn't see the conclusion of it though, as the recoil of the attack threw me back onto the ground, my arm aching fiercely. The impact knocked the air out of my lungs and I laid there wheezing, stars flashing before my ears and a humming in my ears.
" …ry…" a hand covered my vision, the distant sensation of my shoulder being touched softly registering. It took a few seconds for me to process what it was, and I only as my vision started clearing, my hearing working again.
"Fury!" Shepard shouted, dragging me behind cover. I blinked a few times before everything came back into focus, the echoing gunshots, the whining beams and the humming wings. The screaming horde was mostly absent now.
I groaned as I pushed myself into a sitting position, standing up with the help of a wall and my arm. I winced while I did though, the arm being my injured one. Glancing around, I found all three of my companions firing at the Collectors, ducking behind cover often to avoid the punishing particle beams. Thankfully, not all of the collectors had them, otherwise this battle would have been a foregone conclusion.
Movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I watched a pair of Collector drones fly around the corner, unnoticed by everyone else, they were preoccupied with the enemies to our front. Ignoring the pain, I stepped forward as I swung my arms around, focusing energy into the point in front of my stomach as I condensed it into a point that I shot out towards them, hitting the leading collector straight on and forming the singularity. The trailing edges of it caught the second drone and I shot forward a destructive sphere after to detonate the singularity, mauling the collectors in the process. This is what finally clued Shepard into my cognisance, as she fired one more shot before turning towards me.
"Are you injured?!" she barked, and I raised my hand and wiggled it.
"Nothing major."
"Good, that means I get to strangle you." Shepard nodded, turning back around. She shot the last collector, Jacob and Grunt having finished off the rest of the remnants. Shepard then turned back to me, frowning. "What the fuck was that?"
"A plan."
"It was a shit plan," Shepard sighed, "still, I didn't have anything better. Now, can you do that again?" Shepard smiled manically, and I raised an eyebrow. I then took stock of my body, no discomfort except for my right arm with plenty of energy left. My wrist felt sprained and my arm had suffered some minor burns that would heal quickly. This wasn't my most energy intensive technique but concentrating it over and into my hand made it more damaging to my body than you would expect, can't argue with the result though.
Turning towards the direction my attack travelled, I found a slaughterhouse. There were dozens of husks that basically exploded, the front of the pack. Their bodies were splattered all over the ground, the walls, and a little bit on grunt's forehead. Behind those lay the mangled corpses of dozens more, over which were a few littered with bullet, the trailing edge of the pack. My single attack must have taken out almost 40 of them, which is a new best.
"I can if I need to, but it's more of a last resort. The recoil isn't fun."
"Then thank you for doing so despite it. Warn me when you're about to do something like that though, I barely managed to drag you behind cover while you recovered. It isn't something you can use alone." Shepard scolded me, and something within me made me respond to it.
"I would have been fine if you weren't there. Most of my strongest techniques aren't conducive to teammates."
"Really? Maybe we should have a talk later then."
"No." Shepard sighed at my refusal, but didn't try to argue with me, at least yet.
"Let's not waste any more time then, there are undoubtedly more." Shepard mused, then stepped away from me and began to make her way through the carnage. "Let's move!" she shouted at the others. We didn't have the time to waste. We found nothing else moving on the way to the spaceport, no collectors, and no colonists. They had all cleared out, and the port itself was similarly vacant. No one stopped us from walking straight up to the guardian lasers and letting EDI access them, which was concerning.
"It will take me approximately 15 minutes to configure them Commander Shepard, please stand by."
"Just do it as quickly as you can EDI," Shepard ordered turning back to us. "I don't like this, the collectors won't let us just do this, there will be an attack before the time is up. The question is, what have they spent so long preparing?"
"I don't know ma'am, but we'll just have to deal with it." Jacob responded, optimistic that one.
"Sure, if only it was so easy. Garrus, what's your ETA?" Shepard queried him, using her comms.
"Oh, about 10 seconds." I heard his response, coming from behind me. I turned to find team 2 approaching us, looking no worse for wear. Well, Miranda's hair was no longer so neat, but why would she wear it loose on a battlefield? I don't care how good it looked, that was a mistake.
"Were you waiting for me to ask you that?" Shepard narrowed her eyes at him.
"Of course not, it was just fortunate timing." Garrus put his hand on his chest, keeping his facer straight.
"I thought we were checking for enemies around us?" Mordin blinked his large eyes, confused. Garrus sighed but ignored the damning statement, as did we. Shepard did quirk a smile at the Turian though.
"Moving past that, we're expecting heavy resistance from the collectors inbound on our position, we need to defend this terminal until EDI finishes her calibration, no you aren't helping Garrus." Garrus lowered his hand. "Miranda, you will be defending Mordin from the terminal, focus on that. The rest of us will be positioned around the area. Help out if enemies come from one direction, but make sure to check your surroundings. Mordin, if no one's injured you will be looking around us to make sure we aren't ambushed from behind. The rest of you stay near me, Fury will act as direct support, setting us up when needed and assisting if required. Grunt will be protecting her while she does this. If a collector bursts into golden flames, kill it quickly. It is intelligent and will swap bodies when it's current is dead. I'll explain later, but all you need to know is to kill him on sight. Is everyone clear on the plan? Good, take your positions." Shepard took command, her words leaving no room for argument and none came. No longer was she relatively laid back, all that could be seen right now was the hardened war veteran.
I took my place near the terminal, ready to help any that needed it. Grunt came with me, antsy for the fight to begin already. He had been having a blast today, but it was only enough to whet his appetite. The only true fight we'd had so far had been the swarm, and I took out most of the enemies he could fight. He was decent with a shotgun, but the accuracy of such a gun left much to be desired at the distances the collector's hovered at. It's rate of fire also paled in comparison to the assault rifles that both Jacob and Shepard carried. I thought he might be annoyed at the fact I took out most of his opponents, but the sheer carnage I brought was more than enough to satisfy him then, of course it only left him thirsting for more right now. Don't worry Grunt, you'll get your wish. Sure enough, I could hear the beginnings of their approach. Inbound was a swarm of collectors, dozens of them flying in formation toward us. They were the first to come, and they were the first to die.
"Open fire!" Shepard shouted, letting lose with her rifle, the staccato rhythm accompanied by a symphony of violence aimed directly at the swarm by all with line of sight, which was everyone. The collectors were in the air, and considering how ammunition was virtually limitless in this day and age, there was no reason not to fire upon them. It was a bit far for me to be of much assistance, my biotics generally having a certain range limit and my pistol useless in the face of the weapons everyone else carried, well except for Miranda. It's why she was given the largely redundant task of guarding Mordin, we were all doing that as well.
Still, while I could help as the collectors got closer, it was unneeded so I turned my attention away from the remains of the swarm, trusting the others to finish them off. It was a good thing I did, because I found another swarm on the horizon, matching this one in size.
"Behind us, they're coming in waves!" I shouted, getting the team's attention. At the same time they saw the new swarm, a third began emerged from the left, this time travelling along the ground accompanied by a horde of husks. There was too many of them for me to stick to support, so I guess I'll do what I do best.
"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL." The voice boomed once more, one of the ground travelling collectors burst into flames, drawing my attention. He was within reach of me, so I grinned. This one was mine!
"Grunt, let's dance!"
I channelled biotic energy around my form and into my legs, and then I charged. I swung my arms heavily, each stride lengthening as I accelerated past the roaring Krogan towards the leading husk. I slammed my left fist into it without halting, my momentum carrying my fist into and through the once more corpse. This was the first of many as I bounced off my feet, each change in direction leading me to another enemy. Contorting my body around the flailing limbs and gunfire, dealing death with every action, wasting nothing in my advance. The husks were easy to take out, unarmoured as they were. They burst into sparks in my wake, but I was no longer present by the time they did. Any remnants of the energy they let out was absorbed by the barrier now covering my form. It was something I had learned to do over the last year, enhancing both my strength and defence at the same time. It used a decent amount of energy, as this technique was a channelled one. The strength boost ran out too quickly otherwise, but it was worth it.
I slammed feet first into another husk, my feet shattering its ribcage even as I turned towards a collector next to it aiming it's rifle at me, the end glowing. I lunged forward to grab the rifle and point it past me towards another drone I'd noticed aiming at my little buddy. He was having the time of his life, but his situational awareness had somewhat suffered for it, but that's all right. He's young and he'll learn, for now I'm here to assist. It's not like he needed much help, he was tearing through them as well, using his shotgun liberally and even headbutting a few into submission. The rifle fired over my shoulder and disintegrated the drone, while I formed an omni blade into my free hand, stabbing it through the collector's rib cage and disembowelling him as I moved past. I was close to the glowing drone which had just stood there observing me the entire time, he didn't even make any moves to save the subordinates I was decimating.
"YOUR RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. SUBMIT!" he shouted, finally acting as he raised his rifle at me. Instead of responding, I thrust my hands forward, blue energy shooting out of them and knocking the rifle out of hands and into a husk running past him, the rifle discharging into it and splattering the husk all over the collector. I couldn't have done that on purpose if I tried, but it sure felt satisfying.
I kept my eyes on the bug as I ducked and dived around the last few collectors between us. Slamming my right fist through the head of the last drone between us I swung my left arm out beside me, a blade flashing into existence that I then brought up beside me. I ducked under the swiping arm of his and swung the blade into his side, fully bisecting the corpse and letting the upper torso drop to the ground. Instead of letting him make another pointless statement, I slammed my mechanical foot into his helmet, crushing the head beneath it with biotically reinforced strength and letting the corpse disintegrate around me, some of it flaking off my armour. Turning around, I biotically grasped the remaining three husks and slammed them together, crushing their bodies from the force and dropping them to the ground in a wet fizzling heap.
That was the last of them, and looking around I found the other two swarms had been dealt with in the meantime, but then again they didn't have to deal with the husks. I walked over to Grunt, who was currently playing around with a mound of body parts, and swiped him across the head.
"Play later, there will be more coming."
"Fine." I swear by the goddess he pouted. Ignoring that internal crisis, I walked back over to the others who were currently grouped up around the terminal, watching me. It was here that I finally registered the pain in my right wrist. I grimaced as I flexed it a little, feeling that the minor damage from earlier had been exacerbated by what I had just done. This was no longer something I could just shrug of, as it will start to effect my use of it. I'll do it if I have to, but there can't be that much more to come, over half the time EDI required had passed.
"Fury, how's your hand? You said it was injured before all of … that." Shepard waved her hand behind me.
"I've used some Medi-gel, but it will require attention when this is done."
"I'll have Chakwas look at it. Still, good job over there. I didn't expect so many at once."
"You should have."
I turned away from her, keeping track of the surroundings, also because Miranda was staring at me in a rather disconcerting manner. At least Jacob was just stunned.
"Can I just say that was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen." Garrus' growly voice spoke up from behind me, having approached while my back was turned. I didn't know how to take it.
"I'd rather you didn't personally." I retorted, not looking at him.
"It's a compliment you know. You were practically a blender in there. I certainly wouldn't want to fight you up close."
"… then I will take it in that spirit. And that?" I waved my hand in front of me. "That's what I do. And you wouldn't want to fight me period."
"I'd like to think I'd have a shot from a kilometre away." Garrus jibed and I snorted. Sure.
It was quiet for the next few minutes, each one bringing us closer to the end of the mission. It wouldn't be long now, but still long enough. That initial wave was the first to appear, and it wasn't the last. It was the first to die, and so too will this one.
The collectors came from all directions, no longer bunched up. I guess they learned. Still, the numbers weren't there, a large part of the golden bug's forces must have been used up in that last wave. There was also some more husks, but they were no great help.
We took them out soon enough. Now that we were no longer surprised, our unity was far greater. Shepard barked out orders to all of us with almost preternatural ease, using me to line up kill-shots. I created numerous singularities around us, some exploded by Miranda and others used as bullet sponges. In between this work I kept my eyes open for particle rifles that were about to be fired, pushing and pulling them around to prevent it from happening. When I was too late for that, I grasped my companions instead, which happed on two separate occasions. One of them was Miranda, who had lost track of a collector behind her.
While this wave wasn't quite so as intense as the first, it just wouldn't end. Our opponents kept dribbling in, never enough to even make up for the losses they were taking, but it meant we could never catch a break. As time went on, exhaustion built. Battles almost never go on for long, and the other weren't used to this. Truth be told, neither was I. I wasn't being stingy with my energy right now, so even my vaunted reserves were feeling it. I was nowhere near empty, but the mental strain was another matter. Keeping track of everything going on around me was difficult, and I had to make up for more and more mistakes the longer we fought. It was enough to make me sweat and pray for EDI to hurry up, but finally, finally it seemed to be petering out. We hadn't seen the golden one the entire second wave, much to my confusion, but new collectors had finally stopped flying in and only a few more remained. He must have heard me, because in the next moment all could hear:
"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL"
"Shoot him!" Shepard shouted, her voice haggard from all of the orders she had been giving out.
"YOU HAVE PUT UP MORE RESITANCE THAN EXPECTED"
His current drone burst into flames from the team's gunfire, only for him to form in the second last remaining.
"BUT IT ISN'T ENOUGH. YOUR EFFORTS ARE FUTILE."
Then the second disappeared, leaving only one more for him to form in. The battlefield was now quiet with the end in sight. It was here that I began to hear another humming noise approaching, but this one was different. It was deeper, heavier.
"YOUR DEATH APPROACHES"
This time he burst into flames before we could even finish him ourselves. Just what was approaching?
Through the clouds, Garrus spotted it, pointing it out to the rest of us. It was small at first, the figure gradually resolving into a vastly different shape than before, far less humanoid and for more monster. It grew larger as it approached, and larger, and larger still. The sound of the behemoth's wings were almost thunderous as it crashed onto the ground, making it shudder. Three metres tall and just as mean, the colossal bug announced its presence with an astonishingly loud roar.
My ears rung, even through the hearing protection the helmet provided, that was how loud it was. Even more than that, the sound was deep. I could feel it shaking my entire body even from over here, I don't think being close to that would be healthy.
Glancing around, it seemed everyone felt much the same as I did, those without helmets were effected a bit more, but the sound was heard as much by the body as it was the ears, so they weren't effected that much more. They were also too close to it for me to do much, but so was I. I also didn't have the time for another shockwave like earlier, but I'm not sure it would do much to this beast. It had to weigh nearly a few tonnes by the looks of it, that and the significantly armoured carapace would render my effort useless. I guess that means we're doing this the hard way then.
[POV: Miranda]
"No one get close to it!" Shepard roared over the gunfire we were all pouring into the terrifying beast. Just looking at it left my breath short, I've dealt with a lot in my life, but this bug? It was more than all I'd seen. By all reports the Rachni would be worse than this, but I'd never seen one in person, or a thresher maw. Images and videos couldn't be compared to the real thing, it was so much worse. I'm glad we had Shepard here for this, she had experience with all of that, and it left her with a cool head, a cooler one than mine. I was grateful for that, that I wasn't the one coordinating this battle.
"Fury, try to keep it restrained, or at least keep it away from us!" Shepard shouted again as the beast advanced. It wasn't terribly fast, but it didn't need to be. With the sheer bulk of it, it could crush any of us beneath one of its four feet, even Grunt.
"I'll try, but there's something strange about it. If I didn't know any better I would say it's biotically resistant!" the enforcer shouted back, raising her glowing hands at the beast. It was similarly enshrouded, but I could see it resisting whatever Fury was trying to do, she was feeling it as well, her arms shaking from the effort it took. That was bad, she was the only way we had to keep it contained. My biotics weren't even comparable to hers, this battle had proven that. The number of singularities she had slung around were mind-boggling to me, and the way she controlled the battlefield was stunning. Her battlefield awareness is off the charts, how much experience with this sort of thing does she have? I lost count of how many techniques she used, she did them too quickly, she even saved me once. All of that must have taken its toll on her, not even considering how she had to take up our slack as the rest of us fatigued. I will never be more grateful I managed to gain her assistance then today.
The monster took a step, its version of musculature straining against the force opposing it. Then it took another. Fury's growl was audible from even here and I watched as the energy flowing out of her increased even further, her form glowing brightly. Finally, this halted it, but that only proceeded what came next. The eyes of the beast began glowing with a familiar golden light, the implications horrifying.
"It's a living beam weapon, dodge the eyes!" I shouted, trying to warn the others, but it was too late already. The lasers began firing a slim moment after the eyes started glowing, the action too surprising for the short time we had to react. The others all leapt out of the way, all except Fury. I don't know if she didn't register my call, that the mental strain too much for her, or if she chose not to. What I did know, was that the lasers were all aimed at the being opposing the beast, the one stopping it from moving, the one letting it be fired upon without resistance. On Fury.
To my relief, Fury seemed to sense something at the last moment and slammed her still glowing hands together, an even brighter flash of light surrounding her as an almost solid barrier formed around her, the strongest I had ever seen. It may have been enough to stop one of the lasers, but this thing had more eyes than that. Fury was able to dodge two of the lasers, but the other two struck her without fail, her barrier flashing wildly from the force.
It looked like her barrier might hold out at first, the aura fighting back against the beams, flickering but holding. I've never seen a barrier act like that, when it first wavers it's about to shatter, but not this one. It wavered for more than 2 seconds of sustained fire when the wavering started less than a tenth of a second after it was first struck, but it couldn't go on. The barrier began glowing brighter and brighter, flickering greater and greater. It would break soon. Fury seemed to realise this as well, and she acted. She jumped back and let the force imparted by the lasers blow her back towards cover, but before she could make it her barrier shattered with an almost sonic boom, letting the beams reach her form for a moment. I didn't see what happened exactly, it all happened so fast, but I think she may have angled her feet towards the beams as she disappeared over a forgotten sky car.
Her disappearance marked the cursed beams finally halting, the flesh around them visibly steaming. The behemoth looked worse for wear, littered with small wounds and its head seemingly overheating, this was our chance.
"Leader!" Grunt cried, charging towards the beast in his fury.
"Stop Grunt!" Shepard shouted after him, but her words didn't register with the Krogan. He got as close as he could and opened fire with his shotgun on the beast's face, shooting round after round into it's eyes, pulping them. Its primary weapon was rendered useless, and the breast roared in pain from Grunt's actions. These roars were different to the earlier ones though, they were far, far louder. Grunt cried out in pain, dropping his gun, and covering his ears in pain. He also hunched over and didn't see the leg that crashed into him, launching him into the side of a large boulder.
What the hell was that, a sonic weapon?! Just how bloody weaponised was this thing.
"Kill the damn thing!" Shepard roared, eyes blazing as she opened fire with an entire magazine on the blinded head. It's sense were gone at this point, so all it could do was stumble around trying to find something to kill. It made it easy to avoid, and easy to deal with, but that ease came with sacrifice.
I joined in with my pistol, but I doubt it had much of an effect compared to Jacob's particle beam, Shepard's assault rifle or Garrus' sniper rifle, but I wanted to help. I hadn't been able to do much today, it grated on me. I was a fully trained operative of Cerberus, passed all courses they had with trained colours, but compared to these guys? I was average. I was an administrator, while I was combat ready it wasn't my speciality, and I didn't know if I could change that.
The others only stopped once the beast's entire head was pulp, and even a little after it collapsed to the ground. Finally, it was over. No more enemies came, and the timer EDI gave should be finishing up about –
"Guardians calibrated." EDI's voice echoed from the terminal and the guns thrummed to life, the electrical humming audible as they turned towards the still hovering Collector ship. They only managed to fire once before it stopped hovering, exiting the atmosphere shortly.
"Mordin, check on Grunt!" Shepard shouted, jogging over to where Fury had landed. I was closer than her, so I began jogging over as well, the commander catching up with me shortly as we made our way over. She was further back than I thought, past the car and inside the end of a shallow trough in the ground. She hadn't made any effort to get up, but I could see her chest still moving. What wasn't so good was her leg, her right foot was gone, the damage travelling a little above her ankle, the end a blackened mass of ash and metal. She must have used it to absorb the laser when her shield broke, that was a gruelling decision to make, but it's better than if the laser hit her chest. She can get a prosthetic foot.
"Shit." Shepard hissed, kneeling next to her and shaking Fury's shoulder. "Fury, Fury! What's your status." Fury's helmet shook around a little and Shepard moved to take it off to check her airways when a hand jumped up and grasped the wrist.
"Helmet stays on." Fury spoke up, her arm letting go and spasming a little.
"You're awake, thank God. What's your status?"
"I've been worse." She commented, pushing herself up with Shepard's assistance. I moved over to take her other hand, pulling her up and putting it over my shoulder. She wouldn't really be able to balance without her foot and it was better Shepard be able to deal with anything that jumps at us.
"You're missing a foot." I deadpanned, and Fury just began laughing like a bloody maniac.
"It's not so bad. My right wrist is fractured though, and I've got bruises."
"You need a medic, let's get you to Mordin, he's looking Grunt over." Shepard grunted, speeding us up.
"I need nothing of the sort. I'll be fine." She protested.
"You. Are. Missing a foot!"
"Just sit me over there for a second." Fury said, gesturing to a rock nearby. I glanced over at Shepard who looked too tired for this, so I went along with Fury's demands. Once she was set down, I watched her immediately reach down for her mangled foot and take the limb in firm hands.
"No, don't - " I cried as she twisted it, and then it came off in her hands with a grunt. What the hell?
"I lost that foot years ago, I've got a replacement in the ship." Fury told us, hopping up onto one foot and hopping over to us. "Your concern was appreciated though, very touching."
"I swear to fucking god Fury, don't make me punch you." Shepard grumbled as Fury leaned on me once more. I just stood there listening, interested in the dynamic I hadn't known existed.
"I thought I was injured." Fury joked, joked!
"Well apparently you're fine. You still need to be looked over though, whether it be in here or the ship."
"The ship." Fury grunted.
The others were rather surprised at the sight of us, the concern for Fury apparent when they saw her missing leg, The questions about why she was holding it were amusing though.
[POV: Jack]
"You will let Chakwas look you over, it's either her or Mordin, take your pick." Shepard sternly ordered me. I growled but didn't reply. Shepard wouldn't let me look over myself despite my wishes, and I was too tired to argue any further with her.
"Now, do you need me to get your foot for you?"
"No, it's hidden and would be a pain to explain. I'll just need help back."
"Good, then I'll see you during the briefing tomorrow. We're staying on this world for today, we'll set off tomorrow. I leave you in good hands." Shepard nodded, turned around and left the room. This left me alone with Chakwas who had been standing their patiently, amused at our back and forth.
"It's always nice to see Jane make new friends. It's a pleasure to meet you Fury, I don't think we've been acquainted. I'm Dr Karen Chackwas, and it's long overdue that you see me. I'm going to need you to remove your armour for me, do you need assistance."
"Wait." I held up a hand. "This will be confidential, won't it?"
"Of course, I take patient confidentiality seriously, no matter what Cerberus would prefer. There is no surveillance in here." She smiled at me kindly. I used Treena's app to check that for myself, and it seems she was right, so I began reluctantly taking off the armour. The clasps were easy enough, but I winced when I moved to take of the glove, my right wrist throbbing painfully.
"Here, let me." A gentle hand grabbed mine, taking off the armour with care. Sighing, I let her do as she pleased, eventually stepping out of the armour into my stretchy pants and singlet, but stopped her when she came to my helmet.
"No one does that but me." I muttered, reaching up for it. I hesitated at the final moment, but pulled it off all the same, letting Dr Chackwas see me in full. If she was surprised by anything she didn't say it, and despite my misgiving of her as a doctor she wasn't too bad. Gentle in a way they never were, it let me loosen up a little, but only a little. Her chattering helped with that, her gossip about the others amusing. I found myself liking her even as she was examining me, which was confusing to say the least.
"You'll need to stay here overnight before you can leave. Is there anything I can get you?"
Really, that long? Fine.
"I don't suppose you have something to drink, I don't take my helmet off much."
"Really, you're asking a doctor that?" Chackwas raised an eyebrow and I shrugged, waiting for an answer. She sighed but nodded, turning to go get something.
"I don't suppose you have Serrice Ice?" I asked, hopeful despite how low the odds were. She stilled for a moment, before grabbing something and turning back to me with a bottle in hand with a cheeky grin.
"Why I believe it's your lucky day. But don't expect more than one glass, this is expensive." She told me, pouring a generous amount into a glass. I accepted it gratefully and took a careful sip. The similarities between her and Aria comforted me, so I let myself just relax. I was tired of being on edge all the time.