Ok all, enjoy.
Ashley stood up with her back straight, despite how much it hurt. She did help out with Grunts Wright and that hurt like hell, but she didn't let that get in the way of her posture. Especially now that she was face to face with an Alliance admiral. She wore her alliance blues and trailed to look as professional as possible. She was sent a message from Admiral Hackett that they would need to speak as soon as possible.
It's been a day since they left Tuchanka and was more than enough for everyone to get settled back in. She asked the ships A.I EDI if she could use the QEC and she was given permission. Which is what led to her standing in the conference room with her hands behind her back, the hologram came up around her and she found herself in the office of Hackett within his flagship "Sir!" she said bringing her arm up to a salute.
Hackett looked up from his desk and upon seeing her, he stood and moved around the metal table before standing in front of her and returning the salute "Willaims, it's good to see you. At ease" he said as they both lowered their arms.
"Your message said it was important sir" she said as he spread her legs and placed her hands back behind.
"Yes, it was. Willams before I get started I want to know some things, mainly, why is there secretly footage of yourself and the other members of the Normandy fighting one of the council's most decorated Spectres?" he asked with a small frown.
Ashely took a deep breath as she started to explain everything about what happened with Vasir, including the first attack, the tracking of the broker and the fight that took place within his ship and her suspicions that Clark took the data on the ship. When she finished Hackett reached up, crossed one arm and placed the other on his chin, rubbing his beard, clearly in deep thought "so you're telling me that the most powerful man in the galaxy now has the largest data cash in the galaxy?" he asked.
"It's not been outright stated by anyone but based on what I've seen and heard from him and others. He doesn't strike me as the type to let information like that just slip from his hands" she countered making it clear that this is just a theory.
"For now, it would be best to keep that to yourself, we don't need the council even more afraid than they already are" he said back calmly and Ashley could understand the reasoning, it was bad enough that Superman could take over the galaxy with violence if he wanted to, if he could also do it with blackmail and pulling the strings from the shadows. Yeah, that would be bad.
"Yes sir" she said with a nod.
"Willams there are a couple of things that you need to know that you may not like" Hackett started and Ashely felt her eyes narrow ever so slightly and her heart rate kept on getting faster "the link has been made between the death of Vasir and the crew of the Normandy. So as far as the public is concerned, Superman is leading a terrorist cell, something the council are rolling with. Officerly you've been stripped of your rank and dishonourably discharged from the Alliance" her heart stopped and for a split second she felt like crying, everything that she worked for, her life's work and it was all just taken away.
The only think that stopped her from having a complete breakdown was his exact wording "and un-officially?" she asked hoping that something good could come from this.
"Un-officially" Hackett started "you are on a deep cover assignment, infiltrating the crew and working undercover to try and stop them" he explained "not the most plausible excuse but it will have to do. Make no mistake about it Williams, the mission you have is still important. If Superman finds proof of the Reapers, then we need it, his word alone is already enough of an excuse to increase funding to the military"
'Ok, it wasn't too bad' she thought herself as she listened to the reasoning "understood sir, are there any additional orders you want to give me?" she asked.
"Only that you report to me and me alone" Hackett started "councillor Anderson will try and make things easier on you and the rest of the crew but he can't do much. I'm sorry Willams but in the eyes of the law you're a fugitive, if you get captured, we'll do what we can but it won't be much. You'll be on your own"
She didn't like it, not one bit but at the same time, it was the Reapers. What choice did she have, this is what Shepard fought for, what he died for. She couldn't fail it now "Understood sir" she said giving a salute.
"If something else comes up you keep me posted" he saluted her "Hackett out" with that the hologram ended and she found herself back in the conference room.
Clark sat down calmly in his cabin on the ship, in his hands was a data pad that held images of the data from Mealons experiments. He hated to admit, but this was good. From what he could see, maybe a year or two more and he would have had something ready for trails. He knew that Mealon had done a lot but he didn't expect him to get this far 'the things you can do if you drop morality' he thought to himself.
Before he could figure out what to do next for the crew, the doors to the cabin opened and he looked up in order to see Kelly Chambers walk down the stairs and stopped when she saw him "You've been avoiding me" he accused as she moved forward and stopped in front of him.
"That doesn't sound like me" he said as he looked back down to the data.
"No?" she asked as she sat down on the other side of the couch to him.
"No" he confirmed with another head shake.
"Great" she smiled and pulled out her own data pad "so you won't mind if we catch up on our meetings now?" she asked. Clark's eyes looked up from the data before he let out a sigh and closed his own pad. That was the crux of it all, of course he could just tell her to leave and there is very little she could do to stop him "now where did we pick off?" she said interrupting his train of thought "ah yes, Lois" she said suddenly "have you seen her at all since we last spoke?" she asked calmly.
Knowing that this was about to happen, Clark figured he might as well just get it over with "yes" he admitted as he crossed his arms.
She frowned at him before looking down "how many times?" she asked.
"Twice" he admitted.
"Does she say anything to you? Or does she just stand there?" she asked an immediate follow up.
"She speaks" he added with an unease tone.
She noticed that immediately and asked a follow up "you're not happy about it?" she asked with a gentle tone.
"About hearing my late wife's last words? No-not really" there was a sarcastic tone.
Kelly simple hummed at his words and looked up from the data "the last time we spoke, you said that seeing her wasn't a bad thing, not really, that it was just a matter of perspective. Has your perspective changed?" she asked.
Clark didn't answer for a moment as his eyes looked down to the ground as he thought about it "Yes" he admitted "before, she would just stood there, looking as beautiful as she usually did. But now..." he trailed off and clenched his fists as he thought about it.
"It's ok, you don't have to tell me the details" she assured him "but can I take a guess and say that Lois is no longer the peaceful image you usually see?" she asked. He didn't say anything back but he did nod at her, confirming her question "has she ever appeared like that before?" she asked, still not outright saying or asking what Lois appeared as.
He hummed at her before looked back up, starring at the empty fish tank "she did when she first died, but I haven't seen her like this for decades" he admitted.
"In other words, ever since you joined this mission?" she asked.
Clark looked over towards her and he realized that she was right, this didn't start until he stepped onto this ship "I guess that's true" he admitted.
"And can I ask" she started "has anything changed since you and Miss Lawson..." she started.
"No" he answered quickly, not blinking at how she knew how he and Miranda got closer. EDI probably told her because Kelly said it had something to do with his mental health which is a medical emergency or something similar.
"Are you sure?" she asked calmly.
He looked away for a moment, he tried to think about all the moments in which he and Miranda got closer, all the flirty comments, all the touching moments and finally the kissing to sex "yes, I'm sure"
"Do you think that due to your new relationship, you're seeing less of her?" Kelly asked as she leaned forward slightly.
His answer was immediate "I don't know" he said.
"Or maybe is it because you're once again in the spotlight, once again being called Superman. Maybe it's getting all too familiar to you, maybe you've moved on but all the familiarity is bringing back some issues that you thought you had moved on from but really hadn't" she listed off and did not hold back from her thoughts.
Clark looked at her with a completely confused face "What issues?" he asked more angrily than he meant too.
"Well, that's the thing, isn't it?" she asked almost humorously "maybe you're not over her death just yet, maybe there was something to it that you haven't told me. Maybe in a way, you're grateful that she died"
His eyes adopted a red hue before he could think twice about it and Kelly's side of the room was lit in a red glow. Clark had to give her credit though, she didn't look scared and just sat there "And..." he said through gritted teeth "why would I be grateful for my wife's murder?" he asked.
"Maybe just before she died or even the entire time you were with her, you knew that you wouldn't age the same way humans do" she started and the redness to his eyes started to fade "maybe you started to get scarred at the idea of being completely helpless, not being able to do anything as your wife ages, withers and dies while you remain as pristine as ever"
"Get out" he said quickly, she didn't fight him on those orders.
Instead, she simply nodded and stood up "we'll continue this another time" she commented before turning to leave. Clark sat there completely still has she did so, not even thinking about how right she truly was.
It was true, when Lois and he did get married, he found out just how slow he'll age and he hated every moment of it after. Yes, he was scarred of seeing her die but... no, he shook his head. There was no way he would ever be grateful that she died. Ever. He loved Lois and seeing her die was and still is one of the worst experiences of his life. But he looked down to the ground again, thinking about what she said "EDI" he said out loud.
"Yes Captain" the A.I said.
"Don't tell Miss Chambers about my personal life" he ordered.
"Miss Chambers is permitted access to sensitive knowledge of crew members, in the name of mental health" she explained.
"Don't do it" he ordered in a much firmer tone.
"... Yes captain" she said, hesitantly.
He stood still as the hologram came up around him, he had his arms crossed as he the familiar and admittedly cool looking office of the Illusive man came into view, he was sitting on his chair with a cigarette hanging from his mouth and a small glass that was either Whiskey or Scotch "Clark, I've got some good news" he started "an Alliance science team recently determined that the 'Great Rift' on the planet Klendagon is actually an impact crater from a mass accelerator weapon" he started and he defiantly had Clarks interest "a very old mass accelerator. I sent a team to find either the weapon or its target. They found both. The weapons itself was defunct, but it helped us plot a flight path of the intended target – a thirty-seven-million-year-old derelict Reaper" his eyebrows rose at the information and a lot of things just plotted into place "we found it damaged and trapped in the gravity of a brown dwarf"
"Ok" Clark nodded as he uncrossed his arms "if this is true then our mission just got a lot easier, how is it staying in orbit?" he asked.
"Incredibly, the Reapers own Mass Effect field is keeping it stable. Even after all this time. Likely an automated response to the external threats. For now, it's stable but I won't call it safe"
"How badly damaged was it?" he asked and instead of answering directly, TIM pressed one of the buttons on his chair and the image of the Reaper itself came into view "oh, that badly" he said as he looked at the holographic image "it looks like it's had bites taken out of it" he mused as he saw the large chunks of the missing shell.
"Indeed. There's no trace of the species that took the shot. Perhaps it was their one moment of defiance before being wiped out" he thought out loud.
"So, what happened to the team that discovered it?" he asked placing his hands on his hips.
"We lost contact with Dr. Chandana's team shortly after they boarded" he answered "Initial reconnaissance revealed no clues, and it was too risky to commit more resources – but now we need that IFF. If you're going to get through the Omega four relay. I'll forward the coordinates to Joker. Good look" he said as the image faded.
Clark took a couple of steps back and let the table rise back up "EDI, tell everyone to report to the conference room. All hands-on deck for this one"
"Yes captain" was all the A.I said before a loud intercom was heard throughout the ship "all ground team members report to the conference room. I repeat, all ground team members report to the conference room"
Clark stood opposite the door and waited with his hands on the table "oh and bring up the image of the Reaper would you" he added.
EDI didn't answer but the image of the heavily damaged Reaper shell appeared in the middle of the room. He didn't even have a moment to look at it before the doors opened and Mordin along with Jacob came in, it made sense as they were the first closet ones. Though it was easy to tell that they both immediately spotted the Reaper image when they came in "Reaper? Has to be. Heavily damaged. Invasion start already. No, no. Would have been signs"
"It's alright Mordin" Clark assured him "no invasions just yet. But that is a dead Reaper and one we are currently heading towards"
The doors opened again, and the rest of the team entered, when his eyes locked with Miranda for a second, they both shared a small smile as she moved to standing next to him, beside her was Jacob, the Grunt and Thane. On his left was Garrus, Tali, Ashely Samara and finally Kasumi "Alright everyone, we got a break. Cerebrus was able piggyback off of an Alliance research team and long story short they found a derelict Reaper in orbit around and brown dwarf. We're on our way there now"
"Look at that thing" Ashley said leaning forward to get a better look herself "do we know what caused this damage?" she asked.
"A type of mass accelerator, though the weapon itself seems long gone"
"How long has the Reaper been there?" Samara asked looking calmly at the image.
"TIM seems to think that's it been there for around thirty seven million years" he told them and there was a small amount of muttering around the room.
"Such a long time and still holds orbit" Mordin reached up and stroked his chin "drive core must be incredibly powerful"
"wouldn't mind a weapon that could do that" Garrus mussed.
"Could be useful in understanding Reaper tech" Tali added.
"So that's a Reaper, I want to fight one" Grunt growled and banged his fists together.
Before Clark could try and regain everyone's attention, Miranda turned her head to look at him "what's the word on the team that went there?" she asked.
He doubted that she really knew about the team but it would foolish to think that Cerebrus had a Reaper just free for the taking and not send a team, honestly Clark was surprised that he didn't have a small fleet around the thing "lost contact" he whispered back to her before turning to the others "Anyway!" he said a little louder in order to make sure everyone heard him "we're heading towards the Reaper now, the mission is to board it and try and find it's IFF. With that we can access the Omega four relay"
"All hands-on deck then" Kasumi grinned "cool" she said.
"Pretty much" Clark shrugged "but keep in mind this is still a Reaper and based on what Shepard reported, indoctrination is still very much a risk so when we board the thing, fully sealed up suits, no breach's, complete hazmat sealed. I don't want to take any chances" he ordered them all.
"Understandable, wouldn't want to risk it myself" Mordin said as he turned on his Omni Tool.
"But don't forget this also provides an opportunity to make this mission way easier for us" he told them all.
"How so" Garrus said as he looked over to him.
"Because it's a derelict Reaper" Samara answered for him "if Clark can move it out of the danger and into a safe orbit, we could spread word to the council..." she continued before being interrupted.
"And if they find out for themselves that it's really that old, then they have to retract their previous statements about it being a Geth construction" Thane added as he placed his hands behind her back.
"Holy shit" Ashely said as she looked at the image with real hope in her eyes "they'll have to believe Shepards claims after this. Surely they won't still deny they're real. Right?" she asked looking over to Garrus and then Clark.
"Do not underestimate the stupidity of politicians" he said giving her wise advice "But at the very least, it'll definitely get the Alliance on board, they might even openly go against the Council law and start to really build up their military" he added.
"And if the Alliance starts building up their fleets" Garrus started as he stroked his chin "the Hierarchy won't like it and do the same to their own" he looked over to Clark "this could work"
He gave Garrus a small smile and a nod "we're on our way there now, it should take a few hours but we're closer than any other council ships. Williams, I'd like you to get the Alliance at that Reaper, be honest with them, tell them we found a dead Reaper and they need to tell the rest of the council about it as well" she stood up straight at the order and offered a salute.
"Yes sir" she grinned.
He nodded before turning to face the others "the rest of you, you have a few hours to get ready, nobody's been in a Reaper before so we don't know what to expect, make sure you all have a fully sealed up suit, if you don't have one, I'm this ship has a couple you could borrow"
Clark stood calmly behind Joker as they moved away from the Mass Relay, he didn't see anything for a moment, only the white spots and the blackness of space. Though he knew they were heading towards the dwarf "you do know that even if we get the IFF" a voice said next to him and he didn't need to turn to know that Miranda was next to him "we still won't be able to get through the Omega four relay without first knowing where the collectors really are"
That was true, Clark admitted. The Mass Relays weren't so simple as to simply point in one direction. That only worked with the primary Relays and there was only about ten of them, the secondary Relays which were seen as more of a little sibling to the bigger ones, they could go to many different locations which had smaller relays like them and since no-one has gone through the Omega four before, they could be going to a virtual maze within the Relay network.
"I know" he added "we'll just have to be patient and wait for TIM to get us the data from the Collector ship" he looked at her from over his shoulder. He found himself surprised by what he saw, she wasn't wearing her usual tight suit, instead it was now a more armoured suit, and she carried a helmet under her arm "hazmat suit?" he asked already knowing the answer.
"Fully sealed" she added "are you not going to wear one yourself?" Clark didn't answer and instead gave her a small smile over his shoulder, she scoffed slightly and shook her head "Of course not" she answered herself.
"Engage stealth systems" Miranda ordered as she moved back down the walkway towards the large hologram in the CIC "we have no idea what happened to the science team already stationed here so let's rule out any external threats before we board"
"Engaging Stealth systems now, Executive Lawson" EDI's voice echoed throughout the bridge.
Miranda herself placed her helmet on the terminal next to Kelly who had her head down, working with her own screen "Begin passive scans of the system. Let's find out if there's anyone else out here" she added out loud as she walked up the stairs to the command post and looked at the large holographic image that usually had the galaxy but now had a 3D overhead image of the system.
"Aye, Aye ma'am. Scanning now" a voice said to her left, from first glance it sounded like Matthews. She leaned forward and took a closer look, it seemed like there was nothing here, it looked slightly dull, but she didn't want to take any chances with unknown Reaper or even Collector tech.
After about five minutes she was about to call it when something caught her eye "Hold it. Matthews, scan that again" she ordered.
"Understood, scanning... hang on, we got something" he said.
"Identify it, but be gentle, we don't want to reveal ourselves just yet"
"One moment. Heat trails, looks like a ship was here but they've gone into FTL travel. Whoever they where they left around two hours ago" he told her.
Not something she wanted to hear, who would come across a mass ship floating completely dead ship, ready for anyone to come a salvage it and just leave? She shook her head; she can think about that later. Besides if this does end badly, they have Superman with them.
"Miranda, we good" Clark's voice echoed from the front of the ship.
"We are" she confirmed.
Clark stood calmly in the airlock of the ship, waiting calmly for Joker to bring the ship in "opening Airlock now" she said before the doors to the outside opened very quickly. Thankfully they weren't right next to the Reaper before if they did otherwise... well he didn't want to think about the force of the wind that would have hit him. It wouldn't do any damage of course but it would not have been nice, the dust and sand from it alone, he would have need a very long shower in order to wash everything off.
And as he stepped out of the Normandy and hovered in the empty space in orbit around the Dwarf, he realized that that's going to happen away because he'll be going down there to get the Reaper in the first place 'this is gonna be a pain' he thought to himself he looked down at the large giant beneath him and took a minute to zoom in on the Reaper and when he did see he moved forward. Flying quickly and placed both hands in front of him, an old pose he hasn't done in a while.
He coughed slightly when he entered the giant's atmosphere and remembered to keep his mouth shut, a part of him was thankful that they wouldn't need to bring the Normandy down here, he doubted that it would have been a comfortable flight. But that didn't matter for the moment, he'll shower later. It only took around 10 minutes to get to the Reaper Clark had to admit, to see it in person was impressive. But he didn't need to worry about that now, he flew forward and his tiny body barely made a dent in the two-kilometre-high machine. But what did that matter when the small body could move planets?
As he got closer, he noticed two things that gave him some pause. The first was that when he got close enough the wind around him completely stopped, showing this the ships Mass Effect fields where still up. The second was a very recognisable ship that was attached to the Reapers shell, it was Geth. That was a surprise, but it would explain why the science team went silent. He would need to keep an eye out for any Geth on board.
Clark placed both his hands on the Reapers outer shell and began to move it, he did so quickly because he didn't need to worry about the decrepit body fall apart because it still had its mass effect fields intact which meant that it's shield protected it from extreme G-force, like the winds of a gas giant or Clark pushing it out of the way of said giant. He knew that he was moving at hundreds of miles per hour, but the Reaper wasn't being affected by that all.
Once they left what maybe could be called the planet's atmosphere Clark slowed down and gripped the Reapers shell while he did so he slowed it down with him until it came to a gentle stop. He let go of the ship and activated his Omni-Tool, signalling for the Normandy to head in. It arrived not even a minute later and Clark could easily see that even the ship he used was tiny compared to the large Reaper.
He flew over to the ship as it maintained a safe distance. He didn't go back in but when the shuttle left the Normandy which he didn't need to look into in order to see the ground team all on board, he flew alongside the shuttle as he assumed that it was heading towards the best entrance point of the ship. Which is why he wasn't surprised when they headed towards the very small Cerebrus airlock that the scientists must have used to first get on board. Clark landed on the landing pad as the shuttle came down, they landed side by side, still completely outside so vulnerable to the void of space.
The doors opened and the team started to make their way off the ship, Miranda and Garrus where the first to step off, thankfully in completely sealed suits of armour and looking back, he could see that everyone else followed suit. Even Samara had a full helmet on. He was about to open his mouth and tell them all to follow him but stopped when he remembered that they were in a vacuum, and they wouldn't hear him.
Instead, he simply nodded at them and turned around, walking towards the main entrance. The doors opened for them without a problem and the crew moved forward as one, when they entered the door behind them closed and the pressurisation process began, once done the other door opened and they group started to make their way inside "No-one here to great us, lovely" Tali spoke up first as Clark stopped in order to look down at the dead body up against the wall opposite them, what was left of it at least.
"What happened to it?" Grunt said Clark used his foot to kick it onto the opposite side, so it's back was too the ground.
"It looks like it's been burnt" Jacob commented as Mordin came around him and kneeled next to it, opening his Omni-tool as he did so.
"Not burned, melted" he commented as he typed away on his tool "some type of metallic nano compound. Stripped away the flesh and mutated what was left" he pulled something from his belt and took a sample "never seen this before, must study further"
"What could have done such a thing?" Thane asked to no-one in particular.
"We are dealing with Reaper tech" Miranda reminded him.
"Clark" Kasumi's voice echoed in front of him "you should see this" ignoring the body in front of them, he turned and started to move forwards through a small lab and towards the thief that was in front of a Terminal "listen to this" she said as she played something that was on a terminal.
The screen lit up with the image of a man wearing a Cerebrus uniform "The airlock has been installed at the far end of the holed section. We have begun pressurization for shirtsleeves work. The crew is edgy. I reassure them it is mere nerves. A superstitious reaction to what this hulk represents. The corpse of a vast ancient life form" he looked side to side before leaning in closer "Privately, I can't deny the atmosphere. The angles of the walls seem to press down on you. I find myself clenching my teeth"
"Well, that's disheartening" Clark commented.
"One of the first signs of indoctrination is paranoia" Ashely said as she held her rifle a little tighter and looked down the corridor.
"But if they became indoctrinated. They should still be here somewhere" Miranda added.
Grunt clocked his weapon and looked down the corridor "I knew we weren't alone here. Battlemaster, let me go ahead" he requested.
"No" Clark said quickly as he turned away from the terminal "no-one goes anywhere alone in here" he walked forward and the others followed him, the door that led to the Reaper hull.
"There's other terminals here" the resident thief observed as she looked to the right at a row of the terminals that Clark very much guessed that there were more video logs.
"I don't want to spend any more time here then I have too" Clark instructed as he opened the large door "download the data, I'll look at it all later" he said before the entire area lurched, like the Reaper just got hit with something.
"Normandy to shore party" Jokers voice came in through the com.
"Shore party here, what was that?" Clark aske
"The Reaper put up kinetic barriers. I don't think we can get through from our side" the pilot told them.
"You have got to be kidding me" Jacob scoffed from the back of the group.
"Is it me or was that timing way to convenient" Miranda mused as she looked forward into the body of the Reaper, keeping an eye out for whatever may come.
"There is no way this Reaper is still active right?" Tali asked the group.
"No" Clark said "this might be some lingering electronics reacting to the change in scenery" he added before bringing his Omni-Tool up to his mouth "don't worry about it Joker, just keep the Normandy close and keep an eye out for anything. We'll bring the barriers down form inside"
"Copy that cap" he finished before hanging up his end.
He gave everyone a final nod before he stepped forward into the body of the Reaper, the effect was immediate, it was colder than he would have thought, and the air tasted very metallic and the few hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He walked forward onto a small walkway that the science team must have put up. Though it was hard to miss the discharge on the ground, it was the exact same as the body they saw on the way in.
"Still no idea what caused this?" Ashley said as she stepped closer to the railing and looked over the edge of the platform.
"Not without some tests" Clark said as he stepped over the orange, organic, synthetic sludge "best guess at the moment it's what's left after this full indoctrination. Garrus didn't you say that the Husks where once full humans?" he asked already knowing the answer.
"Yeah" he answered as he looked down the large open shell of the body with his scope "we thought it was Geth tech at first but when we saw them on Horizen as well, it was a fair guess to assume it was Reaper tech"
"Let's go" he ordered and the party slowly started to walk through the empty ship.
"Cap, are you sure you don't need a suit yourself" Kasumi asked through her breather "I'm completely sealed up and even I'm feeling a little off"
He didn't answer straight away, he looked over his shoulder at the crew before got an idea "hang on a sec" he said as he turned and walked towards the wall, unlike the floor, the wall was the Reapers outer shell. Stopping in front of it, Clark reached out with his hand and dug into it with his fingers. The ancient metal that was older than the species behind him could not stand against his strength. It lurched and whined as it was torn free rest, ignoring the hole in the wall he just made, Clark walked back to the group. All of which gathered around him as he held a small piece of the hull, applying more pressure he crushed it into little pieces before they fell to the ground.
Keeping his hand open, Clark looked closer at his hand, he could see the fragments of metal that was left over from the piece and past that, he zoomed in on his hand, his iris closing and twists like a camera Lenses. He could see his skin cells and even past that, his eyes widened slightly when he saw very small particles that where definitely not his try burrow their way into his hand before his own skin particles fought them off, it seems that no matter how they tried to get into his body, his own skin wouldn't let them and they melted away.
"I won't have trouble" he announced to everyone "it's trying to get into me but my cells are fighting them off"
"Fighting off" Mordin commented "interesting, cannot wait to talk about later, would like to study"
"Quite" Grunt said as he stepped back the scientist and Clark, now standing at the front of the group and starred menacingly down the open outer shell "somethings there" he said to everyone.
Clark listening to what he said looked away from his hand and in the same direction, using his senses he could see them "he's right" he said stepping forward and stood next to the Krogan "we have company" as he spoke the sounds all too familiar to Garrus, Ashley and Tali was heard by everyone.
"Husks" was all Garrus could say before dozens of converted humans started to pour in towards the group from the other side "Light them up" Garrus said as the whole group started to fire on the approaching horde.
Clark for himself didn't move from his spot at the front of the group, he didn't want to get in the way of the weapons firing and when a husk got close enough, he simple batted them away and they flew into the wall in a pile of machine or organic gore "how many of these things are there?!" Tali shouted as she blasted another husk away with her shotgun.
"Depends on how many of the Cerberus scientists were here to begin with" Jacob answered as a Husk unlike the others made their way forward towards the group, this one wasn't like the others, most of the Husks had been a blue/purplish colour but this one was a flaming red. Literary, it was on fire as it ran towards the group.
Clark didn't want to risk any damage that would come to the group when it got here, he started to walk forward but stopped when a biotic field came around the Husk and it flew into the air before it was flown backwards, as it hit the ground it exploded with the force of a couple of grenades, he turned around and saw Samara lower her arm, he gave her a nod before turning back to the others. Thankfully it seems that the wave was running low and the last Husk was making its way towards them "Wait" Clark said to the others "don't shoot this one" he said as he walked forward.
The Husk, not caring about the lone person making its way towards him. It lunged when it got closer but Clark raised his hand and grabbed it by the neck. It flayed and thrashed as he held it but he twisted it around and placed it on the ground on its stomach, it still thrashed and tried to get away but it was difficult under the strength he had "Clark what are you doing?" Miranda asked as everyone formed a circle around him, their weapons aiming outwards.
"Learning" was all Clark said as he looked closer at the body under him "this is... horrifying but it's incredible. I can still see the electrons of the brain working, they're on overdrive but it's still working. All the Reaper tech has been merged with the Organic parts and coming from a Reaper that couldn't have had any prior knowledge on humans is amazing" he said as he looked at the Husks bones or what was left of them.
"Great, you like the science. Not the time!" Ashely yelled as she quickly turned around in order to make sure nothing was sneaking up on them.
"Have to agree, amazing technology, requires study, safely" Mordin added, that last part making it clear he agreed with Williams.
Clark let out a small shrug "fair enough" he said as he stood up and brought his foot down on the Husks head, crushing it and ending the thrashing "EDI, any chance you can highlight a path to the Reaper's core?" he asked into his Omni-tool.
"At the moment the Reaper activated its kinetic barriers, I detected a heat spike in what is likely the wreck's mass effect core. Sending the coordinates now" The A.I said to the group and everyone's tool lit up an incoming message.
"Ok, everyone" Clark started as he turned to the group "you know where you need to go, make your way there and plug EDI into the core. She should be able to get into the system and get the IFF" he told them all.
"You make it sound like you're not coming with us?" Garrus said as he looked off to the side.
"I'm not" Clark said as he looked up to the ceiling "I see a very large power fluctuation coming from somewhere deeper in. It might be a data centre, I really want to see what's in there" he explained as he started to however in the air "just watch each other's back and you'll be fine" he reached the top and dug into it with his hands and opened a hole for himself "if you need help just shout out and I'll come flying" with that said he disappeared from view and for a good few seconds, the crew sat and watched the empty hole for a moment.
Garrus looked down and let out a sigh "alright everyone, let's get this done" he said walking forward and everyone followed suit.
Clark found himself pleasantly surprised but the size of the vents he was moving through, he thought that since this ship was just one big body, there wouldn't be any need for vents big enough to walk through but apparently that wasn't the case. When he walked he could see small bulbus sections sticking out from the walls and when he looked closer, he could see these where a type of statis pod 'so the Reapers act as transport ships as well' he thought to himself as he walked.
All the pods where empty so he assumed either the Reaper didn't have any to begin with or maybe when it was killed another Reaper came along and took them all but if that was the case then why just leave the corpse here? why not try and repair it? Would it really be so difficult to Reaper a dead Reaper? Sure, you can't just bring back a full A.I but you'll be able to do something at the very least. The more he thought about it, the more the thought that he could most likely repair this if he set his mind to it.
But he can think about that later, now he had something else to worry about. This Reaper could hold the answers he's looking for. This hulk has been here for millions of years, the power somehow still following through its systems. If he could harness that knowledge, if he could understand how it works then it could be the key to getting Genesis to work. If he could understand how this power is transferred from the core to the rest of the body, he might be able to solve his own dilemma. It won't be perfect of course, the power core is completely different to what Genesis used but couldn't hurt, could it?
He moved down the corridors running into the occasional Husk as he did so, not that it mattered, he just battered them aside and they crumbled. The sounds of weapons hit his ears and he looked down to where they were coming from, just making sure that the team wasn't getting over run. He smiled at the sight of them all working so well together. It's almost a shame that this wreck might make everything they've been doing so far almost pointless, assuming the council won't be complete idiots. He stopped mid step, of course they would.
Their pride wouldn't let them, they've said too much against it, committed to many resources to deny it. They wouldn't be able to admit they were wrong now, it would be carrier suicide and for politicians the carrier is everything. He ignored it for now and continued walking, worse comes to worse the mission will have to do, get the proof and appeal to the leaders directly.
"Clark you there" Miranda's voice called him through the com.
"Yeah" he answered "everything ok?" he asked as he continued to walk until he came across a curtain of wires hanging down and used his eyes to cut through them and continued onwards.
"So far but we found out who the ship that was here before us belonged to, there's a Geth on board" she told him as he tried to drown out the sound of weapon fire.
"A Geth" he repeated, like for some reason he thought that he heard her wrong 'what would a lone Geth be doing on this thing?' he asked himself "has it attacked you?"
"No, that's the weird thing. It's shooting the Husks" she told him.
"Holy shit" he said more to himself than anyone else "you remember what I told you on Freedom's progress?" he asked as he moved towards a wall and started to get to tear a hole in it.
"About what you said regarding the Geth that attacked the Citadel with Sovereign might only be a small section of the Geth collective" she answered for him "What!" the voice of Tali came through before it was smothered out with weapon fire "yes, I remember" she said.
"How do you feel about that theory now?" he asked as he stepped through the wall and found him in a very large area, it almost remined him of a chasm but it wasn't big enough for that. It was a vast empty area but what was suspended in the middle of it all is what made him freeze in place as he hovered just as he starred at it, his face morphed into one of confusion and shock.
"I'm more inclined to believe it now" she answered "how you found what you're looking for?" he didn't answer, he just continued to stare "Clark, you there? Clark, radio check" she said.
The questions knocked him out of his stupor, and he turned back to his Omni-tool "... Yeah, I'm here. I'm... I'm gonna have to call you back" he dismissed as he lowered his arm. He moved forward in the air and got closer to what he stared at.
Hanging there in the centre of the of the Reapers body was another machine, it was different from the rest, the light that came in from a large whole approve Clark which looked like the central impact point of the Mass Effect round that struck the Reaper, it illuminated the body of the machine in the middle that looked like a four armed humanoid alien he's never seen before.
This raised so many more questions about the Reapers, was everything he's walked through so far just been an outer shell. What the hell was this thing? Not being able to stop himself he started to move forward, his mind going into overdrive as he thought about what he was looking at. The body itself looked damaged, maybe the round that brought the Reaper down also damaged this thing. The core? He guessed.
He moved forward and as he neared the body he noticed a large hole in the chest, he was carful as he moved inside it. It was a much tighter squeeze then he would like but he managed to crawl through the body, ignoring the heat coming from the centre of this thing, as he neared the heat source, he could tell that this would be enough to kill other people and his clothing was starting to singe slightly. So, unless he wanted to give everyone a show when he got back he would have to speed things up, he pounded on the walls and opened them up, a bright light hit his eyes, but he ignored it and crawled forward.
The light came from a large orb that if he was seeing right, seemed to spark with... code? How does that work? What kind of A.I works like this? Knowing that time was of the essence he quickly started use his Omni-tool to plug into it and create a link. Thankfully he wouldn't need to start hacking this because there is no way he would be able to do that on just an Omni-tool. Thankfully, he had a lot at his disposal.
While Genesis wasn't completely operational, it was far from powerless, it'll use the link he just set up to start the hacking process, he'll get to the bottom of whatever the hell this thing was. Not to mention how it managed it's power core and how that power was fed throughout the rest of the ship "Clark, get down here!" Miranda's voice came through the come again "Tali! DON'T YOU DARE!" she further shouted.
The volume of the shout is what really got his attention, backing away from the core he moved back out into the large emptiness between the synthetic alien body and the primary bodies shell "I'm here, what's going on?" he asked to everyone.
"I don't care what his reasons are, I'm killing it" Tali's voice filtered through Miranda's com.
The familiar sound of a gun clocking really caught his attention "I can't let you do that" ok, that was Miranda.
"Drop it Miranda" 'Garrus?' He asked himself.
"You drop it Turian" ok, now Grunts talking.
Shaking his head Clark started to move forwards and towards the sound all their voice were coming from, about a kilometre bellow him. He dropped down and started to tunnel through the body of the Reaper "stop this, in-team fighting serves no one present" he could hear Mordin say, this wasn't even through the com system anymore, this was just his hearing as he crawled downwards through the Reaper "agreed, this is a meaningless argument that only impedes progress" that was Thane talking now.
"It's not meaningless, I'm not going to let Clark turn a Geth into some science experiment just to satiate his curiosity" Tali shouted.
'Wait, what?' he thought to himself, not his curiosity really was getting the best of him and he started to move a little faster, not caring for the damage left in his wake, he did want to leave this place as intact as possible so the science teams the Citadel send would have something to work with but now things looked like they were getting a little intense with the team, something he couldn't allow just yet.
"Is it really so different from what your own people do when they get the chance" this time it was Samara who weighed in on the conversation, her voice just as relaxed as always.
When he reached the ceiling of what he assumed was the room the team was in, Clark reared his fist back and punched through the metal. He heard the sound of multiple weapons being turned but lowering when his other fist came it. Making a small hole from himself, he crawled through it and did a small flip as he fell to the ground, landing on his feet.
When he looked at the scene in front of him, he was very confused. Tali was in the middle of the group, aiming her shotgun at a downed Geth unit. Miranda was aiming her own weapon at her, Garrus was aiming his at Miranda and Grunt was his at Garrus. The rest of the group was standing around almost awkwardly, though it was clear they were the ones who aimed their weapons at him when he started to punch his way into the room. Which he only just now realized was the ships core "someone want to tell me what's going on?" he asked calmly though he voice carried across the entire room.
"Sir" Miranda started, still not lowering her weapon "we found this Geth with the mass effect core but a Husk knocked it out before he we could stop it. We fought off the Husks and EDI started downloading the data but now Tali wants to destroy it" she said turning back to the engineer who still starred at the Geth with her weapon ready.
"I see" Clark walked forward, nodding to some of the crew members who didn't have a weapon raised against each other "it's still functional?" he asked as he stopped in front of the Geth and kneeled down to get a closer look at it.
"Not for much longer" he heard Tali mutter before he micro sounds of her weapon being used also hit his ears. In the span it took others to blink, Clark's arm moved and his hand blocked the bug shot that left Tali's shot gun. Completely blocking the attack, he turned to her and stood up "I know you hate the Geth" he started to the smaller Quairan "I know you have every reason to but don't worry I'm not exactly going to let it go where it can cause trouble" he raised his hand and calmly rested it on her shoulder "relax" he added.
"Everyone, well done" he said turning to the others "EDI, do you have the IFF?" he asked.
As the question was asked, the Omni-tools of all present came to life "yes sir, I believe I do" it said.
"Thank you" he smiled before he turned to the Geth and picked up its downed body before throwing it over his shoulder "see, we're doing good work here. All that's needed now is the exact location of the Collectors beyond the Omega four relay and that shouldn't be too much longer, it's just a matter of time before that downed ship on Horizon gives us what we need. Now let's go" he said before he headed for the exit. The others hesitating for a moment before the ones who had their weapons up dropped them.
"How will we get off the ship?" Thane asked "the kinetic barriers are still up" he added.
"Oh yeah" Clark said as he turned around, walking backwards out of the room, he looked at the core and twin red beams shot out of them and hit the core directly, destroying it.
The entire Reaper rumbled and multiple explosions rocked the ship "WAS THAT A GOOD IDEA!" Ashely shouted as she and the others ran forward in order to dodge debris that was falling all around them.
"I didn't want that active when the Citadel people get here" Clark shrugged as a large beam fell on his head, not that it mattered "for all we know this is what causes the indoctrination. Besides, there's not too much more to damage" he added and the explosions already started to stop "let's just go" he said.
"Did you end up finding what you were looking for?" Miranda asked him as she stood on the right side of the table in was in, Jacob was opposite her with his arms crossed.
"I think so" he nodded back to her "for now, I'll just have to wait while the data is dug through" he answered as his eyes didn't move away from the hologram currently being above the table "but is that what you really want to ask about?" he asked with a small teasing smile.
She crossed her arms and let out a sigh "well, I do think we need to discuss the unique piece of salvage we recovered. For now. It's been placed in the EDI A.I core. It's no secret that technology has stagnated over the last couple of years, an intact Geth would be invaluable to Cerberus's cyberweapons division" she said making it clear where she stood on the issue.
"We'll have to disagree on that, ma'am. I saw enough of these things on Eden Prime" Jacob said as he walked forward and leaned on the table with both hands "space it" making his thoughts on the matter clear.
"Ok" Clark said as he looked to Jacob "you want to destroy it" he then looked to Miranda "you want to hand it over to supremacist group" he crossed his arms and looked closer at the hologram "anyone else wondering why it's got a piece on N7 armour attached to it?" he added with a tilt of his head.
Jacob shrugged "battle trophy maybe? Would a machine care about that?" he added that last part as more of thought to himself, but it was still out loud
Miranda was quick to shake her head "No. Trophies imply emotions that A.I's don't have. I doubt it's more than a convenient field repair" she shrugged.
"You said it was fighting off the Husks, I've never had a chance to speak to a Geth before. Don't think I'll turn it down now" he said, his mind appearing already made up.
"Reactivating the Geth is a risk" Miranda rounded on him before he could walk past her "if you do so, it should be for humanity's best interests and not your curiosity" that last shake of her head seemed to be full of disappointment that he wasn't going to give it over to Cerberus.
"I still think the 'best interest' involves an air lock" Jacob added with crossed arms and a frown.
"That's just wasteful" Clark told him before turning to Miranda and placing a hand on her shoulder, something she seemed to move into slightly. Finding comfort in his touch "my curiosity is what brought me here in the first place and I'm definitely following my curiosity now" he added as he moved past her and made for the door.
"If you reactivate it, there's no guarantee that we can deactivate it again" she warned before he could leave.
"A bullet could" Jacob added.
The executive officer turned to the weapon specialist with a small frown "that's not what I..." she said.
"Thank you Jacob" Clark said, interrupting Miranda as he opened the door "and don't worry Miranda, if I can't deactivate it again if it proves to be no different from any other Geth that we've seen, I'll be sure to give you something to make up for it. Not sure what yet but it'll be great" With that said he left the room and made his way towards the A.I core, he would be lying if he said there wasn't a small spring in his step. After all he was about to come face to face with a Geth that wasn't trying to kill him and he was in the complete dark about what was inside that Reaper. He had no idea of any kind, it's been so long since he's felt that way and it was a good feeling.
Ok all, we'll call it here. Now the final member of the team is on board and we're getting closer to unveiling Clark's secret project, which you now know is called 'Genesis' to those who've payed attention to the other chapters, you should know what it is.
As for what was in the Reaper, well you remember what happens at the end of Mass Effect 2, about the human Reaper that would become the core of a brand-new Reaper? Well, it makes sense that the other Reapers would have a core as well but it would be a different alien body as the aliens would have been harvested.
Anyway, let me know what you all thought in the reviews, and I'll see you in the next chapter.
Next story update: Project Atlas