The cold bars of the ladder caused a grumble. My arms hauling myself up the ladder to the top of the tiny watch tower on the north western side of the colony. The metal ladder creaked as my foot found solid earth, or building, making me squeak. What is if collapsed before I got back? It had to last long enough to take me back down to the colony. My head poked out from a doorway, gawking at the path before me. The howling wind sounded like a freight train, wiping up the dust. That didn't brought comfort when the bridge in question was the bridge ahead of me. The open sky-bridge looked more like a road with a raised bank about the height of the Mako with doors cut into it. A small platform stretched out on top of this bank. Free from the safety of the building, the tall bank acted as a wind breaker if you stayed near enough to it. Body quivering, each cut in on the bank caused me to pause, scanning the holes for any salarians or otherwise.
On the other side of the bridge, it was abandoned as my shoulder shoved the stiff door open to free myself from the wind. A large room designed with both vehicles and people opened before me. The steep bank from outside continued here. No signs of, the whole building empty. I called out to see if anyone was here, but nothing. My weight shuffled, throat dry as the empty building provided nothing else. My skin ruffled, a shudder shaking my knees. Had that salarian lied about this STG team? Upon reaching a wall, my body hugged, mind speculating about the salarian's intentions while navigating the ruined mess of the building.
Dust was prevalent throughout, choking every breath. The building had been undisturbed for what could be thousands of years. The wind picked up just enough dust to make it impossible to see the floor if the room had exposure to the wind outside. My mouth turned sour at each corner, my breathing hitching as my head peeked around each one. After what seemed like an eternity, A new bridge appeared, this one lacked the bank and was narrower. It was not as covered, however. Would the wind blow me off the road? Movement captured my eye, a glimpse of something moving away from the doorway across the way.
My feet clattered down the stairs to reach the walkway, my heart racing as I bolted out onto the bridge. The wind buffeted me, arms flinging out to keep balance. My voice cried 'wait' as loud as it could, but the wind carried my voice away. My body laboured across the curved bridge, seeking the salarians at the end. The sooner we met, the sooner this could be over. Why the hell did I agree to this? My feet froze three quarters of the way down the bridge, panting. Why did I agree to this? Goddam that salarian! had he tricked me? Fuck it, Shepard, could deal with it, or someone on the Normandy would have his frequency. My head shook my hair out from my face, turning around to return to the colony. That sour tempered salarian would not tempt me again with stupid-
An explosion erupted before me, sending me flying on my ass. The walkway creaked, flexing as the wind buffeted it. It didn't hide my scream, scrambling back away from the large hole now occupying the space between the colony and me. My jaw found the floor, eyes bulging out my skull as my knees trembled, paralysed, on the creaking metal. My eyes pinned to the endless drop before me, disappearing into the clouds. Vision swirling, my throat closed. My eyes dragged away from the drop. Then the walkway turned into a slide. A segment further behind me buckled, the walkway dropping to a steep angle.
My screech deafened me as my hands flailed for a hold above me. The void below provided the motivation and the adrenaline. My fingers grabbed a handhold – some ribbing on the floor – with one hand, legs flailing as my other hand scrambled for one too. My hands held my weight, straining until a foot found a hold, twisting it until the side of my foot slipped into the slot. Instinct had my hands and legs dragging my sorry as upwards as hyperventilation seizes me. Just as black spots crept into my vision, My legs pushed me in through the doorway. Seconds later, a second explosion rocked the building, sending splinters of rock rattling around me. Another scream ripped free, covering my head as a grinding metal sound popped. The wind was my only silence until a dull, faint thud echoed up from abyss. My eyes stared to the chasm, my route to the colony gone.
Fuck!
"Good, you are alive," a voice chuckled. My body jerked, half on my knees as my eyes landed on Mat'al Delern, the salarian tossed a small controller in his hands as he sat on some rubble. He smiled, a chill in his eyes. "Congratulations, you have passed the introductory course,"
"What the fuck are you talking about?" I screamed, doubling over as my lungs ached.
"Welcome to combat school, class is now in session," he said. Shock coated my expression. He tossed a weapon, forcing me to flail to catch it. My eyes locked onto double handled gun. "Don't lose that, you may die," He slid down the rubble to stride towards me.
"W-What… I-I don't understand-" I stammered.
"Good, you don't need to," he said. "Now on your feet,"
"What the hell do you want from me?" I asked. Mat'al blinked once, a dry, cold look. He drew out a pistol, a Predator like mine before arming it. He aimed it at me. My frame trembled as my eyes focused on the barrel.
"Now, I understand you are a slow student, but I will say once more. On your feet," he ordered.
"B-But-" I stammered.
A sharp pain rocketed up from my hip, sending me flying and a scream ripping from my throat, scrambling to my feet as my hand slapped over the injured area. Mat'al as he raised the pistol to point to the ceiling, smiling. My hand patted the injured area, heart in my throat. No blood. My thundering heart skipped a beat. The armour was undamaged, there was no broken skin. My eyes lifted to Mat'al as my heart strived to find a regular rhythm. My jaw floundered.
"I believe it is time for me to set ground rules, otherwise I may need to bring out the live rounds rather than these training air rounds," Mat'al pointed to the gun he had given me earlier, abandoned on the floor in my panic. "Pick it up," he ordered. My knees locked, frozen. His pistol clicked. My knees freed, scrambling towards it. My hands fumbled with it, straightening, holding it against my chest with my arms. Mat'al pointed to my unoccupied hip. "Put it there," Even with trembling muscles, there was enough muscle control to take the gun in my hands and collapse it down to snap it to my left hip. "There, that wasn't so bad, now was it?"
"W-What do you want?" I asked. Mat'al smiled.
"Your help," he said. My spine shook. "Due to the number of geth in the area, my original mission is now more… troublesome. However, waiting for support would take too long. So, I've draft in your help. You are easy to rile up if you know where to hit, which works in my favour," he chuckled.
"B-But, I can't fight…" I stammered.
"I know, which is where I come in. I'm bored, so I made life more interesting by testing how well humans cope with an STG style crash course," he said. My eyes landed on the door with the destroyed walkway. There had to be a way to get away from this maniac! "And before you ask," My head snapped to him. "The only way back to the colony," he pointed with his thumb over his shoulder. "Is this way,"
"Y-You blew up the bridge?!" I squeaked. "With me on it?"
"I need to test my students somehow," he smiled. A low croak rumbled, jaw ajar. "Now, first rule: follow orders when given," My face blanched. "I'm sure you learned that one," he cocked the Predator before snapping it to his hip. Now, let's go… unless you wish to wait for the geth to come down upon you. While you are alone," he said, walking out the doorway. My mind refused to turn the words in my head. Once he was out of sight, survival instincts kicked my brain into submission. My legs sprinted after the salarian, crying 'wait'. I didn't want to die, not yet!
We meandered through broken corridors of rubble, rebar and dust. The air thickened, a weight ready to crush me. For safety, staying about 5 paces away from the crazy salarian before me seemed wise. The ruins whined with the wind, the dust lifting as we walked. We passed under a collapsed door, arriving within a large, open room. The lofty room was about 7 floors high, soaring high towards the sky. Columns, walls and who-knew what other structures had collapsed, pieces of rebar protruding from the walls likes corpses. That thought made me whimper. The good thing to note about the room was the lack of geth. There wasn't much in the way of colour, all cold grey warmed only by the sun. Mat'al studied the room, frowning.
"This is problematic," he said. I glanced over to him, my hand on my pistol.
"What is? Can we go back?" I asked. Mat'al scowled at me. He snapped the Predator free. I screeched and ran to avoid the bullet, but he tracked me and nabbed me in the back of the knee. My knee collapsed and tumbled to the floor.
"Rule 2; do not leave a mission half-finished. Or in this case do not leave a mission you haven't even started yet," he tutted, he reloaded. A whimper sounded as my arms pushed myself up on the concrete. He shot me again, causing another scream. "Rule 3; do not run away unless it is a tactical retreat. Do you see a need for a tactical retreat?" he asked.
"Yes! To get away from you!" I shouted as rubbed my abdomen, rolling on the ground. Mat'al laughed, a glacial sound. He smirked.
"Clever," he said. I rolled onto my knees, glare frozen over my face. Another sharp pain radiated from my backside. Mat'al smirked as a squeal filled the air, my limbs flailing to drag me to my feet. "Rule number 4, no back talking to your teacher. I hope you are remembering all these rules. I don't make as many as this this early on,"
"Fuck you!" I snapped.
"Was that attitude, Miss Shaik?" Mat'al asked. My muscles froze for an instant. A second later, my hide dived for some collapsed rubble, avoiding another shot, scrambled behind it, gasping. "Ah ha! You are learning to use cover! Excellent, we can move onto the next stage," he chuckled. "Now then, come here so I can explain the situation. Unless you wish for me to throw grenades. And I assure you, without shields, you'll be lucky to walk away from it,"
It was hard to peek out from behind the rubble, glaring like a kitten. His Predator was loose in his hands. Out from the rubble pile, my toes carried my weight as we re-joined, ready to pounce away. Mat'al smiled as he turned to regard the area. He nodded as he approached a fallen pillar in the middle of the room. Mat'al hoisted himself on top of it, bringing out a large sniper rifle. He extended it out, peering through the scope. He nodded.
"We need to get up to that floor to proceed," he said, pointing towards the top level. "And with the stairs collapsed, we must climb," he smiled.
"I don't like it when you smile..." I said. His smile widened.
"You'll climb that," he nodded.
"How?" I gagged.
"I'm sure you'll find a way," he nodded his head. He approached me, snapping something onto my suit with a click. A blue aura flash before me. "Some shields just in case. Now off you go," he waved a hand
"B-But I-" I stammered as my brain tried to understand what was going on. Body shaking, my eyes gawked at the 7 floor climb. A gunshot rang out, making me scream and run for cover. A light on my gauntlet died, but refilled after a few moments. My shields buzzed once full. "W-What did I do?!"
"You broke 2 rules," Mat'al said, reloading.
"Which ones?" I asked.
"Were you not paying attention?" he scowled, raising the pistol, A fallen pillar became my cover. "Rule 1. I gave you an order, you did not follow it. Also Rule 5, do not hesitate,"
"That's not a rule!" I squeaked.
"It is now. Hesitation gets people killed, Shaik, I think it is a good time to bring a new rule into force. Now, once again for the slow. Climb," A whimpered hummed in my chest, shambling out from behind the pillar, staring up at the wall. He clicked the pistol.
My legs bolted for the far wall, the only wall that seemed semi-complete. A sheer vertical climb awaited me. If any parkour existed in me, we'd soon find out. As my muscles warmed up through stretches, my eyes scanned for a starting point. There was little on the first floor, so I needed to get onto the second ASAP. There was a column to my right that could be a spring board and there were plenty of hand holds around. Maybe the rebar can be a ladder to help climb up, if they were strong enough. The sniper click behind me as it reloaded.
With rasping breaths and a pounding heart. I ran towards the collapsed pillar. The crumbled rubble was an inch or two taller than I, so my hand clasped the exposed rebar to clamber upwards. My upper body strength was far from usable, but once my feet got a hold, they helped push myself to the top. Fearing bullets, the slanted beams to the second floor became a running track. Power pushed me up, hands grabbing hold of the second floor. My vision tunnelled, legs working like machines until they found enough holds to push me up to safety. Once up on the floor, my eyes scanned the area on hands and knees, testing the stability. It held. A harsh breath freed as my knees shoved me to my feet, chest heaving. The only clear way to the next floor was via a collapsed floor which formed a ramp. But to get there, a thin piece of fallen debris spanned the void to the next floor.
My feet tested the ground as I navigated my way over to the balancing act. The floor grumbled with added weight, parts sank. After a hefty detour, my arms spread to balance myself and tottered across a narrow beam. It held. My legs pushed me over the end, jumping away from the edge. My gaze examined the segmented ramp leading to the next floor. The dust choked my throat, assaulted my nose and my lungs felt clogged. My lungs wheezed as limbs clambered up to the third floor. Once up, I took this moment to catch my breath.
The third floor was in worse condition than the second. Holes littered every unsupported section. Back on my feet – aided by a popping gun – my balance aided me across the surviving support struts. Part of the ceiling had collapsed, but unlike last time, this time the rebar strands dangled down from the next floor. My gaze fixed ahead, trying to ignore the shattered remains below me. My foot slipped as a slab of broken concrete caved. A scream died from dust, arms flailing as my hands grabbed the beam above me, one leg helping me stay above the ruins. My chest ached from my thundering heart, my throat was bone dry. My arms pulled my body back around until I sat on the beam. For fear of falling, I scooted along on my ass until the end. The rebar formed a makeshift ladder, but whether they could hold my weight was a different matter. My hands grasped some of the cold metal, finding a foot hold between two joined bars. My legs pushed me up, searching for a second foot hold.
It took 10 minutes to climb the rebar. Whoever engineered it had done a fantastic job, it held. Although, once at the top, the floor caved. My body rolled until I landed on a support strut, squealing as the floor collapsed beside me. My fingers clung on to the beam of concrete and steel. After 15 seconds, the floor stabilised. my shoulders sagged, trying to get my hyperventilation under control. More than halfway up, my luck abandoned me. No easy way greeted me to the 5th floor. All the roof collapses had fallen through to the floor below or even further still. There had to be a way… if there wasn't, Mat'al would shoot me! Forced to crawl over the beam until the floor solidified, my head peeked over the edge, praying it was stable. Mat'al still sat on the column. He was cleaning his sniper rifle.
"I-I can't find a way up!" I called. He glanced over, following my voice. He hadn't been following me at all. His eyes darted around the immediate area before he secured the sniper in his arms, eyes down the sight. My body shuffled behind a column, sweating. The sniper lowered and he returned to cleaning it.
"There are rebar rods on the outside of the building," he pointed down to my right. "Should be more than enough to get you up,"
My legs shuffled to where he pointed. After a precarious walk over the unstable ground, the rebar appeared, just as Mat'al said, sticking out the side of the building. After studying the rebar, jutting out of the wall. It was just under my max reach, if stretching. My upper body strength would be the only thing able to pull me up the first few bars. The makeshift ladder would be my death if it couldn't hold me. That thought sent tremors down my spine. It was too far, my upper body was too weak!
"I can't-" I said, stopping as he eyed me up through the scope, sniper poised. The sound send shudders down my knees, "I can't do it! It's too high! I'll fall!" A gun sounded, drowning out my scream as my legs launched me into cover. My shields were still intact. My lungs heaved, sweat breaking out as the flight instinct took hold. He was a sniper, he relied on a clear shot to hit me. He couldn't shoot me if he didn't have a clear shot. What to do? I-I had a radio, could I contact Shepard. My finger pressed to my ear.
A tinging sound bounced beside me, glancing down to see a dark sphere, blinking near my feet. Was that a grenade? ... Oh fuck, a grenade!? A scream tore from my throat, legs powering me to and the edge. My hands grabbed the rebar as my body twisted around, legs curling up in a defensive pose. The explosion drowned my screams, ripping my shields off, my armour tinkling as rubble bounced off it. The adrenaline coursed through my upper body. My arms pulled me up three struts of rebar before curling my feet under me. My eyes pun to face Mat'al as he smiled.
"A grenade!?" I screamed. Mat'al turned his head, smile growing as he bounced another in his hands, the sniper still in the other. "Are you fucking serious!?"
"Well, it got you moving, yes?" he asked. He put the grenade back, taking up the pistol. My fear blinded me. My hands scrambled up the rebar.
"I hate you!" I shouted, tears blinding me as my limbs powered me up the rebar. "If I survive this fucking climb, I'm fucking killing you! I fucking hate you, I'll kill you, you little piece of shit-" I screamed as a bullet slammed into the concrete by my head, shields fluttering.
"Less screaming, more climbing," Mat'al said, expression serene.
Instinct blinded me to the first concrete floor, scrambling upwards for the highest tier. The rebar creaked, my lungs burning as my vision blurred. Tears dripped free as they squeezed tight to clear them. Dust irritated them, making it harder to see. My hands grabbed the highest concrete floor, pulling myself up and rolling to safety. My lungs gasped, panting as my shaking hands dragged my gloves off, dust free hands to rub my eyes. When they dried enough to see what was around me, a coiled up rope attached to a stable pillar awaited me. My mind blanked. It was rolled up, by him? Why the hell was he doing this shit? What did I do to deserve this? A sob shattered my shell, my mind unable to connect anything together.
"Good, now throw the rope down so we can be on our way. We've wasted enough time here," he ordered. My gaze hadn't left the rope. Shaken fists pressed into my eyes.
"Fuck you! I've had enough of your sick little games! I'm calling Shepard and getting the fuck out of here!" my lungs burned from the dust. My hands ached as they carried me deeper into the corridor. He might throw another grenade, to 'encourage' me.
"Endellion, Endellion, Endellion," he tutted. "You are on top of a nest of geth, and after all the noise you've produced climbing up here, how long before they come to investigate? Geth do not take prisoners. Do you want to be waiting alone for rescue who does not know where you are?" My eyes stared at the grumbling concrete before me, every muscle aching. My shaken hand scrubbed my face.
"I don't care! I'd rather geth kill me than tormented by you! What is the point of all of this shit?" I sobbed.
"Come now, child, don't you want to be stronger? Don't think I saw your commander and you before you parted ways. You do not appear to have a tolerable relationship. Would you not prefer to show him you can defend yourself? He seemed exuberant that you spoke to people. Imagine what he would say if you could fight," Mat'al said.
My teeth pressed together, heels of my hands covering my eyes. I wanted to show I wasn't a coward, that there was courage in me, that it didn't want to be holed up in a lab all day. This fear had driven me to the brink of insanity, questioning why it was so difficult to speak to people, let along be normal. And the only way for me to do that was to be strong. But sitting on the Normandy wasn't helping me. And it wasn't my permanent home. My time on the ship would end and end soon. There wasn't much time before they kicked me off the Normandy. Thrusted away from the only people I knew, the only people who got my semi-trust. Whatever fear was holding me back, I had to deal with it…
A curse flew from my tongue as I threw the rope down for him to climb.
The Timeline and Galaxy Map have been updated for this chapter. Please see profile for link to Archive.