AN: You may be asking why this update is so late.
Fucking law school
Jesus
Fucking
Christ.
Anyways, it's not even an issue of time, more so an energy thing. That being said, I'm getting used to it, school and all that... Albeit slowly. But fuck, Halo Infinite is coming out.
You may ask, how will I incorporate this into this continuing storying.
Well,
idk. Incorporating the technology is easy so far. As for the story... I'm not fully sure. I can't really follow it fully, but I can incorporate some elements... Maybe I'll finish this by the time ME4 comes out jfc. Btw you see the new game poster for it?
You may also ask what have I learned so far at law school. Well:
Children are fucking stupid. See EVERY FUCKING ATTRACTIVE NUISANCE Case; see also EVERY FUCKING CASE INVOLVING a CHILD
CIV PRO MAKES NO GODDAMN SENSE, BUT I KNOW RICHARD FREER'S GOT ME. CAN I GET A AMEN?
As for future updates, I'm not quite sure... Finals are coming up. But I'm learning how to balance everything, including maintaining my hobbies (such as this) so I don't go fucking insane. We'll see. I'm gonna have to maintain short chapters...so, we'll see...
Anyways, four dollars a pound.
Sanctuary, Horizon, 2186 Citadel Calendar, 12:02
His body was stripped, leaving only his underlay suit. The skin was grey, pale and lucid. He once had close-shaven hair and a mustache. His armor laid on tables and laid under neon light. They surrounded him. The pod is an epicenter. A shrine... His armor was olive green with stripes of orange and red. On his chest piece was a horizontal cylinder-like object.
"Jorge-052…" Miranda muttered. "One of the file names. It was all corrupted."
Tali looked at the nearby terminal, "timeline… Recovered from Long Night of Solace."
"One of the Spartans I think who helped ignite the slipspace bomb," Miranda said. "Maybe he died on mission…Or was left behind..."
"Maybe he stayed behind to activate it," Shepard suggested.
"Well, he was alive," Tali said. "According to this, Cerberus had to fight tooth and nail to take him down…"
"Wonder how many agents it took to kill him," Miranda said. "Wonder how long."
"We should bring something back," Shepard said as he looked around the room. A film of dust had settled on the armor pieces. Behind the cryo-pod on the other side of the room was another door that probably led deeper into the Cerberus house of horrors. "Recover him, anything. But I don't see any dog tags, and I doubt Spartans carry zap cards."
"I don't see anything," Liara said as she approached the Spartan's helmet. "All we can do is record evidence, report it to the UNSC for final burial."
"...I'm looking at more dates…" Tali said. "It seems they've captured at least nine Spartans on the Spirit of Fire...and this Spartan, 'Jorge,' was from the Intent... 'He seems to be the first one recovered. And from him, it seemed Cerberus developed "their" Spartans."
And the galaxy is more interconnected than they ever would have thought.
"Wait, wait, hang on…" Tali said as she put more commands into her omni-tool. "Look at this..."
She opened up a new security feed dated only a few hours ago. And he saw him, the Master Chief… He stood in front of the cryo-pod, head down, one of the older UNSC rifle models in his hands. He reached out a hand, touching the glass of the cryo-pod. The Chief kept it there for a moment, breathing heavy. Something happened off-screen, causing the Spartan to look back for a moment. Whatever it was broke the trance. The Spartan moved back into tactical mode, and proceeded forward.
"He knew him?" Shepard asked.
"I think there were only a handful to begin with," Liara replied. "Original Spartans for that matter. I think they all knew each other."
"He didn't take anything…"
"Possibly it would slow him down," Lira replied. "I'm sure he recorded death confirmation. That's the least you can do."
"We're on the right trail," Wrex commented. "If the bodies are still fresh, you think the Chief did all this?"
"Seeing that guy in action, hell ya he did," Shepard replied. Finding nothing, he sighed. "Can you get anything else, Tali?"
"Mmm, recovered two light-years outside the Nimah Cluster… Recovered five years ago. August 17th 2181 Citadel, 2552 Military. Recovered a large section of amidship and cargo hold, along with numerous small support ships ranging from two hundred meters to one kilometer," Tali swiped down some more.
Shepard looked over the Spartan's armor. He saw the micro-bullet holes caused by eezo based weapons spread about over his chest plate. A few dozen maybe. Shepard wondered how much the physical armor actually helped.
"Keelah…" Tali mumbled. "Amidsection estimated at around sixteen kilometers… Weapons list, energy systems, tech…"
All the stuff they need to not only arm a contingent but to experiment and grow. Shepard wasn't sure who mentioned it, but the purpose of ship classes like the Long Night was everything but direct combat operations. Carrier duties for both fleet and ground, a supply base deep behind enemy lines where logistical support may prove difficult, power and fleet projection, and army deployment.
But basically, the ship a lot of supplies and tech. Millions of rifles, and who knows how much support equipment, vehicles, and so on.
"Let's see…." Tali added. "It seemed they didn't have time to fully wipe the data compared to other places… Damaged UNSC slipspace drive-standard. Five intact Sabre exospheric combat fighters. One intact Pelican transport including limited UNSC equipment and weapons."
"They seem to know a lot about this…" Shepard replied. "Was that information retroactively added, or originally added in the initial report?"
"Standby, standby…." Tali replied. "...Survivors list?"
"What?"
"Survivors list… Long Night crew…" Tali said as she moved some screens on her omni-tool. She accessed the database. "Three-hundred-thousand survivors…Sangheili, Unggoy..."
"There are survivors?"
"And the data, it was added as is in the original… It was added on August 13th… Before they even found the ship," Tali finally reported. She looked up from her Omni-tool. "They knew what they were going to find?"
"And if they knew what they were going to find, they knew where they were going to be," Liara added. "But ONI doesn't seem like the kind of organization to just hand things over."
Shepard looked at the cryo-pod, at the near eight-foot man. If Cerberus knew, then they probably had something that could easily subdue most survivors while taking minimal casualties.
"What do you mean?" Shepard asked.
"I think Miranda is partially correct, about earlier?" Liara said. "From what we know about the Illusive Man, and what we've been told about Admiral Osman, it seems these people had very...forceful personalities. Yet very intelligent. They had to realize from the very beginning that their… 'alliance,' would only end in bloodshed."
"So you're saying why would ONI hand over tech or weapons to possible enemies in the first place," Shepard asked. "I know in human history we've made that mistake plenty of times."
"True, as has the Council…" Liara replied. "I think what frightens me the most is I, nor had the previous Shadow Broker ever realized the true extent of Cerberus operations…"
"Well, if there was ever an adversary to the Shadow Broker…" Shepard retorted.
"Also true… Did your files mention any of this, Miranda?" Liara asked.
The former Cerberus agent was quickly awakened from her stupor-like observation of the Spartan's helmet. "Sabre program is one of the files. It did mention Cerberus' experiment and the development of advanced fighter craft… I thought it was small fry compared to the rest of it… Nothing however mentioned anything of the Spartan program. I think it may have been one of the first data files the security AI targeted."
"Is there anything else, Tali?" Shepard asked.
"Some data and inventories. A decent position of these 'support' ships they recovered were intact," Tali said. "Some data on Jorge. Hmmm."
"What?" Shepard asked.
"Architecture imprints. Genetic alteration data…" Tali said. "All from observation standpoints…. Just, the UNSC -whoever- put these people through a lot.
"So...I'm just gonna download the data… Maybe we don't mention it to the UNSC?"
Shepard sighed, "I didn't see anything."
"Liara, run a death confirmation just in case…" Shepard ordered. "You're right. It's all we can do. Mark the location too. If the UNSC comes in here in force… Maybe they can bring him home.
"It's the right thing to do."
"Roger, Commander," Liara replied. Shepard took a breath.e.
Tali scavenged a UNSC shotgun left in the corner of the room. She observed the nomenclature, shrugged, and armed up.
They proceeded forward. They still have a mission.
Sanctuary, Horizon
2557 Military Calendar, 12:16
"This is fucking armageddon," Fred said as he peered through the binoculars. "I don't even know where to begin. I don't want to enter rudderless."
"Mmm," Linda replied as she adjusted the scope for wind.
"We don't even have good eyes up here. We don't know what that MAC gun fired at." Fred said. "Damn, you think John did all this?"
"Maybe…" Linda whispered.
Parking the prowler in the jungle, it had taken them a few hours rucking through trees, mud, and broken defense barriers and automated systems. Now, mud painted their armor. Their visors were dark under the build-up of dirt and humidity. Good camouflage.
They had already taken out scores of Reapers, patrolling and seemingly scavenging like animals. Dragging dead bodies into darkness, into those disturbing dragons' teeth, they were the only thing the Spartans encountered besides bodies. Civilian bodies mostly of various Citadel species, intermixed with a handful of what looked like Cerberus standard troops according to the UNSC database.
And it all laid in the shadow of the main tower maybe four or five-hundred meters high, interrupting the cloudy aqua sky. The clouds were beginning to block out the sun. Their undersides were pitch black, and lighting began to strike in the deep jungle.
"Either way, break's over," Fred said as he dislocated and jumped down into the boulevard below. Hitting the deck, he rushed forward into nearest cover.
"Looks clear from here to the inner defensive cordon. Nothing on scans or thermal," Linda said. "Too quiet."
"Agreed," Fred said as he peered out. Empty save for the signs of battle. He assumed the Reapers dragged away the bodies. He stepped out and began his dead sprint, "just like that time-"
Something hit him, completely depleting his shields. The warning beeping blasted in his ears. It felt like he was punched in the face. He found himself on the ground. Linda immediately returned fire, hopefully hitting whatever the hell shot at Fred.
"You said it was clear!" Fred said as he scrambled into the only defilade - a garbage can.
The Spartan just realized he heard no weapon's report, no zip. Absolutely nothing.
"It is!" Linda replied sharply. "Especially with a SRS99! We're two klicks from that tower. It's about five hundred meters in the air. That's way past the two-thousand-meter effective range-"
"Wait, it came from the tower?"
"Top of the tower."
Only now he heard weapon echoes. After listening to it for a second he realized it was the echo from the thunder. It bounced along the concrete walls, dead planters, and broken glass.
"I guess we don't know all that much about Citadel weapons," Fred said.
"Less mass. Less weight…. Could be, but it'd just be ridiculous," Linda said. "I literally, literally, cannot hit them from this range. I can't do anything."
"Wow," Fred teased. "Getting rusty?"
"You're in range however…"
"You have eyes at least?"
"No, but there's a lot of shadows right underneath the tower. Could be hiding in the dark, but...I'm not getting anything on thermal…"
"He has enfilade on this entire city. He only shoots at us now?" Fred asked.
"Could've been busy," Linda suggested.
"Well, he hit a moving target, a very fast-moving target, from that distance. This guy ain't a grunt," Fred determined. If they couldn't get to whoever fired the sot, the only option is to go into deep defilade. Travel through the buildings and limit outside exposure. "You're gonna get hit if you run over here…but we don't have enough recon to split up."
"I can just force recon it," Linda replied.
"Only option it seems," Fred said. Linda acknowledged, dislocated, and proceeded to double back and make her way through various buildings and tents. Fred sighed, "nothing's ever easy."
He didn't dare peak out. There was a perpendicular pathway, and along the lining wall was an entrance door. He sprinted up and stacked on the door. Nothing inside. Nothing but a few bodies at least. Cerberus infantry.
He proceeded in. Looked like the lobby of a civilian apartment. Poshy plants, couches, some ground floor apartment entrances, and elevators. Still cramped for civie apartments, but better than military standard.
He proceeded through, looking for some way out. Wall and ceiling panels were scattered everywhere. The fires at the very least seemed to have died, leaving nothing but black ash… Nothing unique about this scene in all honesty.
He kept moving through the complex. Luckily these buildings were interconnected. The Spartan pushed up and into another housing complex. This one seemed a lot more cramped, a lot more Cerberus bodies. Including abandoned defensive positions.
Fred stopped midstep. Movement. Twenty-meters. Red on IFF. Something limbered out of one of the rooms. It staggered, it groaned.
Reaper Banshee.
The imagery and design of the Reapers… It disturbed Fred, and he was pretty sure that was the point. It was grotesque. With the dead flesh and alterations, but….he was sure it was mostly because it reminded him of something else….
Before it could scream and alert its buddies, Fred fired a controlled pair right into the thing's mouth. Two rounds from the DMR, and at the very least it knocked the shields down to quarter health. As it staggered backward, Fred fired another pair. The first round destroyed the shields, and the second nearly ripped off her lower jaw. Dead black teeth clattered against the floor. Liquid spilled out, and Fred could only hope it pierced the vocal cords.
Still, it recovered in less than a second and lobbed a dark black and blue orb of energy at the Spartan. Fred rolled into cover, and the orb hit the pillar in front of him. Bits of dark energy splashed on his shields. Black matter that seemed to stay still for a moment. The MJOLNIR shields flared up for a lot longer than usual.
Still, Fred blindly lobbed a grenade and dislocated from the other side of the pillar. Before the grenade even went off, he fired a shot right into the bloated belly of the dead Asari. The 7.62 ripped through the flesh, and brightly colored liquid poured out. It sparkled with a strange blue substance held within the center of the black liquid.
That's when it started to scream. It's painful, deafening scream to the point where Fred's audio receivers closed up to the sound. It was a lot louder than gunfire, that's for sure.
But, the grenade exploded right behind the Reaper as Fred moved into parallel cover behind a lobby desk. Shrapnel pierced its back and the kinetic energy knocked it forward. Fred ran forward and kicked the Reaper in the face. Its skull was smashed in and its eyes disappeared into a black mass. Right at the point of impact, the body began to dissolve into nothing but ash.
It's only afterward that Fred now realized the Banshee was already damaged. Bullet holes patterned its skin and there was ripped flesh… No wonder why it was a little too easy.
Nothing else on scanners. The Reapers seemed to be disorganized savage packs rather than infantry.
He checked each apartment block on the way out. Lots of dead Cerberus infantry and ashes spread everywhere. Whatever started this (Fred was...pretty sure it wasn't John at this point), led to a helluva fight.
He kept checking corners, ceilings, everywhere until he approached one apartment and saw a leg sticking out of the door.
A green armored foot. Kevlar, titanium lining. Older tan camouflage. Fred peaked into the door and saw the rest of the body. Armor burned black, unsecured weapon… Old, old weapon. MA5B assault rifle. Fred hadn't seen one in service in...years.
What the hell was a UNSC marine doing here? He looked over the body. Definitely Marine. Lance Corporal. IFF…
"What the hell…?" Fred mumbled. Over twenty-five years out of date. UNSC Spirit of Fire Marine security detachment.
He remembered one of the Normandy crew members mentioning something like this. A file… Cerberus found the ship?
"Linda…?" Fred said on teamcom.
"I thought we were in radio silence?"
"I never said that."
"Oh, rog." Linda replied.
"I found a dead marine. Spirit of Fire."
"I guess that file was literal…" Linda whispered. "Well, I found some good defilade between here and the tower. Not perfect, but better than anything else. Sending you the waypoint."
"Rog," Fred left the marine behind and proceeded into the next building. This one looked like a storage garage of some sort. Fuel cells, small warehouse vehicles, and containers were spread about. The garage door itself was wide open. Rays of the sun broke through darkening grey clouds and shone open the white surface. This area itself was located on a plateau of some sorts, looking out onto the rest of the refugee city. Rows of tents, makeshift prefab buildings, and a few actual structures huddled together away from the jungles. At the edge of the city, a dozen klicks out was a large structure where….
"Woah," Fred said.
"Yeah…" Linda said. "I got eyes, but...it's hard to tell who's manning it from this distance. Standard UNSC ground mini-MAC. Multiple of them. Eight. Clustered. AA station. Maybe it was the only one activated."
"Maybe…" Fred said. "Those MACs… Maybe the sniper is part of a different team. If he spotted us, he could've called us out. We would've been wiped out."
Linda didn't reply. Fred cautiously peaked out of the garage. A large structure blocked him and the top of the tower. He dislocated and sprinted towards the marker.
"Contact, get down!" Linda yelled.
Fred immediately hit the deck right as something buzzed by him.. It hit a target maybe five-hundred meters away at one of the structures among the tents.
"Move! Providing covering fire!" Linda reported. Fred immediately sprinted to the structure as a hail of fire. A dead sprint to a target a klick out. Not too bad.
He couldn't see what kind of fire it was. But based on the splatter sounds, more than likely it was plasma. Linda, cleared hot, fired steadily. Rhythmic almost, letting the recoil of her sniper rifle set, then immediately took another hyper-accurate shot.
And some of the fire quickly dropped.
In less than a minute he was to the structure, finding Linda in a third story window continuing to provide 'suppression.' Fred saw shut doors, lowered his shoulders, and charged the metal. He ripped right through it, creating a hole in reinforced metal.
He immediately checked the surroundings. More dead Cerberus bodies. Some civilian Cerberus workers. Desks, high security doors, a broken automated defense system.
Up ahead was stairs, and Linda slowly came down.
"Did you see who that was?" Fred said as he quickly caught his breath
"Yeah, actually…" Linda whispered. "Elites."
"What? Good Elites, or bad Elites?"
"Well, they were shooting at us…"
"What the hell are they doing here…?" Fred asked.
Linda shrugged.
Fred sighed, "okay, we have to assume they're following us…"
"Naturally," Linda clarified.
"We need to keep moving, find John." Fred said as he proceeded to the heavy security door. Linda followed, covering his flank.
"That Spirit of Fire marine…" Fred said on comms. "Whatever the hell is going on, do you think we can raise other survivors on comms?"
"I haven't detected other UNSC comms in this entire solar system," Linda replied. "Not saying there's other survivors, but we can't reach them."
Fred grunted in response. As they approached, the door wouldn't open. He grabbed one side, Linda grabbed the other, and they both forced it open.
"Look at us, going in rudderless," Linda whispered.
"Yeah, yeah."
They stepped into the room. A reinforced room filled with weapon racks. More than likely, this was a security headquarters of some sort.
Most of the racks were filled with Eezo weaponry. No UNSC or plasma based weapons as far as Fred could see. In fact, most of the weapon racks were still full, still sealed shut. There weren't any bodies here.
"Whatever happens here…" Fred analyzed. "Surprised attack. Fast and quick enough where no regular security personnel were able to armed themselves in time."
"Who attacked first?" Linda asked.
"I don't know."
It was a rather large armory, with weapons on one side and lockers and benches on the other. The two Spartans shut the door behind them with brute strength, then proceeded through the hall of thermal clips and eezo-based weaponry.
There was a deep rumbling. An earthquake-level vibration as lockers rattled. Fred heard an electronic screeching noise that coincided with the vibration. He knew it all too well.
Both Spartans sprinted, to see if it was what they thought it was. The two forced open another pair of doors and proceeded deeper into the security building. Armor and tech stations, weapons racks lauded the large storage rooms. Cerberus armor, untouched, was left behind in cases and sealed doors. There were a few more bodies here and there, but other than that the building was desolated.
Linda stopped mid step.
"What?" Fred asked as he cleared the area.
Linda nodded to a particular weapons rack. Large weapons blocks. Black, tan, and red. These ones Fred recognized. Commander Shepard was constantly carrying one. Black Widow Sniper rifle.
Linda stepped forward, and with brute force alone ripped open the cage.
"You're not trained to used it," Fred said.
"Souvenir," Linda replied. "I'll figure it out later."
She attached it to the magnetic holds on her back. Fred didn't object. They sprinted forward, ripping through doors into office complexes until they reached the other side, into a garage filled with a small and strange assortment of vehicles.
Hovertanks it looked like. With two front engine wings, a mounted set turned, and a single back engine… It almost looked like a…
"Hammerhead," Linda thought out loud.
And Fred agreed. They headed to a side service door, and just like the others, ripped it open to…
"Oh…." Linda mumbled.
Up ahead, intermixed with the grey clouds, was the great black and purple underbelly of a CCS battlecruiser. Maybe two klicks over the deck, it left an all too familiar impending shadow of anxiety and...awe.
The local AA MAC station began to fire. Repeating rounds in the center of the ship. Constant, rhythmic like Linda's fire suppression White streaks smashed against its shields.
Something appeared over the jungle line however. It was...ugly. Grey and black, with fabricated modules lined along port and starboard of its superstructure. Boxy, and uniformly shapened, it dodged what looked like AA missiles and flew right by the inattention of the MAC guns.
"Citadel civilian cargo ship," Linda said. "Light shielding, no weaponry."
It made a hard landing in the middle of the tent city.
...
"Do you hear that?" Liara asked.
"Yeah, a lotta small arms fire," Wrex said. "Interconnecting. Lead… Something else I can't recognize."
"Me neither, actually," Shepard added as the team left Jorge behind.
And interrupting it, stopping it completely, were massive booms followed by earthquakes. Constant and deep, it nearly threw Shepard off balance. The overhead lights dimmed and flickered. Control panels faded away.
"I don't think that's a UNSC MAC gun," Shepard commented.
"Could be something deeper in the facility," Wrex replied.
They were met with rows upon rows of doors, and Shepard figured they had entered the armor rooms. There were no bodies, no signs of battle.
"Should we send a runner?" Tali asked.
"No, too dangerous to split up," Shepard replied. "We'll keep moving. The Normandy and Garrus' team will be okay."
"Well, either way we have to find a way to lift the Normandy off the ground," Tali said.
"Any ideas?"
"One, possibly. Idea from the UNSC," Tali excitedly reported. "Still working it through in my head."
The team reached the end of the secondary armor hall. Tali began to hack through the door. There were some glass window panes here and there, looking into tech rooms with small rows of Spartan armor and the accompanying heavy duty, thick exoskeleton. Some of them were painted in Cerberus colors.
"No bodies here, a lot of weapons still here…" Wrex said. "But no Spartans…And the only armor here looks like it's being experimented on."
"Maybe there was aurprise attack. Only ones deployed fast enough were their Spartans," Shepard commented.
"Maybe they were still using this as a supply base," Wrex said.
"Or their actual weapons could be in another part of the facility," Tali said. "This could just be an experiment section."
"House of fucking horrors it is," Wrex laughed. "And to think I could still be on Tuchanka."
The doors opened to yet another hallway. The team proceeded forth. Shepard only noticed that all the walls were glass paned.
"Do I even want to know what's on the other side?" Liara said.
"Why not? More stuff to kill!" Wrex exclaimed.
And Shepard didn't think he needed to tell everyone they were in a deadly killzone. The team quickly marched to the door. Shepard activated his tech armor. Miranda stacked up on Liara and Tali on Wrex. All they can do now is hope to God no one opens fire on them.
They were near the door. Shepard...felt something.
Something on his neck… A soft embrace, a creeping vine… Something biological. Something fleeting.
Shepard stopped. Stared into the blackness of forever…. And he swore he saw something…It was familiar and alien, timeless and new, and something eldritch that...surpassed what the team was trying to do here.
Side by side
We march as one
And the voice, not a single entity in his mind, but a combination of all sensories to form the words. He felt it in his mind, along his skin, and nearly tasted the putrid flesh. And it scared him. It scared Shepard…whatever was in the blackness. But he recognized it.
"Hey!" Wrex said as he ran back and grabbed Shepard's shoulder. He dragged him to the door, "the hell you doing?"
"There's something there…" Shepard said. "We have to see what it is."
"If it's there, we'll kill it too!" Wrex said as he nearly threw the Commander at the door.
"I don't want to go in blind," Miranda said. "Let's turn on the lights."
Tali hacked into the systems, and they were in.
Into…
"Aw, fuck," Wrex mumbled.
"CONTACT!" The team scattered into the nearest cover. Crates and barrels and cryo pods barely provided anything between them and the barrage of small arm's fire. Lead based ammunition rained above their heads, but Shepard got a look at the enemy.
Heavily reinforced and bulky, the team of course stumbled upon what might be the worst enemy here: Spartans. Their exoskeletons glistened in the grey light. They took cover amongst the rows of defensive barriers armed with some sort of UNSC weaponry Shepard hadn't seen yet.
A team of twelve engaged shore party, while the other half of the Cerberus Spartan team remained on the far side of their defensive perimeter engaging an enemy past the view of the light. Eezo and bullets hit the barriers shore party was behind.
But it should've been worse for the Spartans. They were in a kill zone. And with no one behind these Spartans, more than likely they were in the middle of retreating.
The Spartans already zeroed in on their position, lying down hyper accurate fire. Wrex tried to peak out, only to get slammed by a hail of bullets that nearly overpowered his kinetic barriers.
And soon they'll send in chargers. The barriers they were behind seemed to line a foot away from the surrounding wall of ground level buildings., forming a horseshoe that nearly encircled the Spartans' position.
Shepard looked around, and realized they had entered another damn O'Neil Cylinder. Thousands of pods lined the walls, forming a beehive-like aesthetic. Disturbingly Dizzying. However, compared to the last one, this one had stark white and dark grey lighting that combined into a blackish shade. The Commander quickly looked back. They had entered from the end of the cylinder.
Shepard nodded to the team. They understood. Tali and Miranda edge rushed, traveling along the barrier points. Shepard lobbed a grenade overhead, followed by an incineration ball. It traveled in an arc in the air, hitting the cover right in front of the Spartans.
Flames hit their shields, and it seemed to do some damage. Shepard switched to disruption ammo.
Liara reinforced her shields with biotic energy. Peaked out and received a similar splash of hail fire. Through the deteriorating energy of black and dark blue wisps, she ignited a singularity and fired off a few rounds from her Carnifex.
The weight of the Spartans… Some closest enough were pulled in, others held their ground. Two of them ignited their own biotic sphere, trying their best to contain the pull of the black ball of dark energy.
"Right, they have biotics too," Shepard yelled on comms through the gunfire. "They have classifications for their Spartans. What the hell were their names?"
"Dead, dead, and fucking dead!" Wrex yelled as he peered out and fired a round from the UNSC shotgun he pillaged. It had a tighter cluster but a far shorter range. Still, some pellets hit the Spartans' shields, forcing them to dig deeper into cover.
One of the Spartans dislocated, leaping over the barriers and charging Shepard, Wrex, and Liara.
"Here we fucking go," Wrex said, laughing.
Miranda and Tali reached the edges before they were suppressed by a barrage of gunfire from a Spartan armed with a UNSC SAW.
Shepard saw the other enemy. Reapers. The Reapers, far off on the other side, also pressed their position. And among their usual ranks of Cannibals, Husks, and Marauders, Sangheili abominations were among them. And it seemed they gave the Spartans more trouble than they did to shore party.
Miranda leaned out, and let a wave of warp energy hit one of the entrenched Spartans. It combined with his energy shielding, twisting and melding in dark energy. It broke through sections of the shielding and embraced joining sections of the exoskeleton. The Spartan was on the ground, stopping and dropping as if he were on fire.
The advancing Spartan sprinted at their position, coming face to face with an enraged Krogan. The Spartan towered over Wrex by nearly two feet. It didn't phase the Krogan however. He charged low, right below center of mass, and pushed the Spartan back a few meters, knocking him onto the ground.
Wrex focused on the grounded Spartan. He landed blow after blow, focusing on his helmet and ripping pieces off the Spartan's exoskeleton. Even through the gunfire, Shepard thought he heard a sharp crack.
Shepard and Liara tried their best to provide covering fire. Still, these UNSC lead-based rounds greatly depleted their kinetic barriers. It only allowed them to pop out for brief moments before being forced back down. It seems in terms of stoppage power versus piercing, Shepard's side of the galaxy focused too much on piercing. Still, shore party's collective fire was forming a killzone.
And the incoming fire from the Reapers were beginning to reach Shepard's team. Stray black eezo rounds hit the cover right in front of them. The Spartans were divided. Those engaging the Reapers pushed forward, only to be met by rounds hitting their backs from Shepard's crew.
Liara's singularity ended. And the biotic Spartan now focused on the flanks. He launched a warp field at the main threat: Miranda. It hit her cover right as she was peeking out. Bits of dark energy splashed in her face, and a warp field surrounded her kinetic barriers, quickly draining the energy bit by bit. She ducked back into cover, scrambling to try and remove the warp field.
Another biotic Spartan launched a singularity wave at Tali. A stasis field formed around her, and in near seconds she was virtually frozen in place.
Once Wrex finished off his Spartan with a final crack as his fist landed on the helmet, he jumped out of the line of fire and into cover near Tali. He took some fire, UNSC rounds penetrating his kinetic barrier and physical armor. But if there was any pain, any discomfort, it didn't appear. Redundant Krogan anatomy.
Eleven left. Now the Spartans were laying down hyper-accurate fire on Shepard's location. Liara tried peeking out, only for the Commander to pull her down as a hail of DMR fire passed right above her.
With only a look and a nod, she understood. The two needed to dislocate. But there wasn't much room to maneuver. They were enclosed, and the Spartans were starting to establish sectors of fire. Rushing into their position would be suicide, and waiting for the Reapers to push wasn't the best bet.
Tali broke through stasis, firing multiple shotgun rounds at encroaching Spartans. Miranda shook off the warp field. She remained in cover, letting her barriers recharge. She took out a N7 Crusader weapons block, loaded in thermal clips, and seemed ready to prepare to charge.
With five Spartans still engaging shore party, it was enough to provide fire on each member. Shepard pulled an electric smoke canister and tossed it overhead. A DMR round struck the canister mid air, knocking it to the ground. Still, smoke dispersed, blanketing the center of the battlefield.
The Spartans know Shepard and Liara will move. They don't know where (Shepard hopes to God they don't have infrared). If they could get two or three to break fire, even for a second then shore party could maneuver.
Liara created a biotic barrier around her and Shepard. The two pushed on the left flank towards Miranda. Bullets pounded on the thin blue veil, ripping through the smoke plumes. Bullets, smashes and crushed, fell to the metal floor. Through the smoke, Shepard saw Miranda's outline. She pumped the foregrip, and stupidly charged in. Still, it seemed the Spartans weren't expecting something so haphazardly. With two rounds she blew away the nearest one's shields. She followed with a biotic slam that hit him dead center. The Spartan hunched down, groaning in pain.
Shepard and Liara were forced to follow up. The Commander activated his tech shields and peered out, firing multiple rounds from his Mattock. The rounds pierced the Cerberus Spartan's metal armor and underlays. Blood seeped out. Miranda finished him off with the last round in the Crusader.
Shepard and Liara turned on the other Spartans while Tali and Wrex pressed in from the right flank. Two of the four remaining Spartans focused on Miranda out in the open. The others in the squad one by one turned their attention away from the Reapers. Shepard had a clear line to the other battlefield. Marauders mostly, supported by a handful of Husks. The most tactically intelligent of all the Reaper types, the Marauders took cover and laid down suppressive fire while the Husks charged. The usual tactics. Still, it was enough to clump most of the Spartans in cover. They were out in the open from Shepard's angle.
Wrex and Tali, armed for close quarters, charged in. One round from Wrex's claymore and he blew one of the Spartan's shield away. And Tali immediately followed with a buckshot round from her Ravager. A stray eezo pellet sunk into his neck.
Shepard waved everyone back, everyone behind cover. They were over extending. They needed to hold back. Especially with possible Spartans reinforcing any second.
The Reapers were pushing forward. Some husks were making it close to the Spartans' position, and Marauders were moving forward despite fire and casualties. The Spartans couldn't hold, and the Reapers were smart enough to focus on one threat at a time.
The Spartans were trapped, and Shepard preferred for them to have a way out for the sake of not having to deal with them.
But for shore party back was a death sentence, across that long hallways with God knows what below.
Wrex pressed the attack, moving for CQC. The Spartan's rifles were now set to repeating semi-automatic fire. The nomenclature looked different compared to normal UNSC DMRs. A conventional design instead of bullpup like the UNSC favors.
Two reacted to Wrex closing in, only a few feet away. He grabbed the scorching barrel of one of the Spartan's modified DMRs and forced it in another direction. With the butt of the shotgun he uppercutted the Spartan right under the helmet. The other Spartan fired multiple rounds, again breaking the Krogan's kinetic barriers and piercing metal armor and reinforced alien flesh.
Didn't seem to do much.
With one swing from the Spartan, and Wrex was stunned.
Miranda leaped back into the only available cover, on the floor behind the deceased Spartan. She desperately pulled out her Paladin. The weapons block unfolded and she hastily fired rounds into the nearest Spartan. Scrambling as they fired their modified DMRs, Shepard and Liara were forced in, focusing on the Spartans engaging the Reapers in the hopes to draw fire to them. Tali focused up front. She fired her last shell, and activated a defense drone. Chikta opened a yellow light, creating a brief barrier between her and the rest.
She leapt back, trying to rejoin Shepard and Liara. Miranda activated a emergency biotic shield. Some of the Spartans turned to the Commander, alleviating the pressure. It gave her enough time to regroup and hide behind a cryo-pod.
With the firing sector gap on the Reaper front, the first Marauder made it to the defensive line. He sprayed fire into the Spartan's position. One of them reached the Reaper and grabbed the thing's wrist. Like Shepard witnessed the Master Chief do dozens of times, he crushed it under his grip in a clunkier fashion. He seemed to overextend his body, fighting the suit itself. With his other hand he activated a micro-biotic singularity, encompassing the marauder and ripping apart flesh and mechanical bone.
Shepard lined up the sights of his Mattock, took a calming, trance-like breath and fired center mass. Liara and Miranda's shots followed. The shields were holding. The Spartan launched a biotic warp at shore party, forcing them into cover.
The Reapers were now making a full push, encouraged by the one Marauder.
One of the Spartans pulled something out of his gear belt and attached it to his wrist. Shepard saw a spool of metal cables reaching from his wrist to the belt, He fired it at one of the building walls, reeling his entire forward. He hit the wall-running, reaching the roof and retreating out of sight.
Don't they weigh two tons?
There was a mechanical echo deep within the facility, vibrations traveled up Shepard's spine. A black block emerged, blocking the entrance, cutting off Reaper troops. The orange light faded behind it.
And the Spartans were fully retreating. Shepard and his team didn't approach the bodies left behind. They saw the reports on the booby traps.
The remaining Reapers were easy to finish off. A handful of Husks and a few Marauders.
"We're fucked aren't we?" Wrex asked.
"Time to back track…" Liara mumbled to the Commander.
"Please, stay."
Shepard recognized the voice.
Recognized the holographic light blue that coated his body.
"I only demand perfection. And while we have made some…improvements to the UNSC armament selection and the original Spartan-II program…they still left a lot to be desired."
And holographic smoke blew in the Commander's face. God knows what cigarette he's on today. But despite the catastrophe in progress, he still displayed the full cold, grey confidence that made anyone doubt that this was a part of the great plan.
"Agent Lawson…" He said, nodding to her as she stood closer to Shepard than usual. "If it weren't for you, we may not be here right now."
"We?" She asked.
"Lost in all this complexity…" The Illusive Man said. His eyes now bore upon Shepard. "I'm not above admitting failure, and here many mistakes were made that culminated in such failure."
Walking among the dead and ashes, a stream of light following from the holographic projector above, he looked among the dead Spartans.
"Of this, these are the most disappointing," he commented. "It possibly could have been quicker, had we tried to emulate this newest generation of Spartans. All the steps readily available," he took a long drag of his cigarette as he looked over the mechanical exoskeleton of the armor.
"Where is he?" Shepard asked. "Where's Cortana?"
"Secured, Commander," he replied. "Unlike many other things in this facility…"
"And I'm going to imagine you're not going to tell us?" Liara asked.
"What happened? My Spartans failed," Illusive Man said. "At least…this batch did."
"Bad batch, huh?" Wrex replied. "Kill us or release us, but quit wasting our fucking time."
The Illusive Man finished up his cigarette, "my forces are in full retreat. There's nothing I can do. I'm here to warn you: Leave. Now."
"That's not an option," Shepard replied.
"Are you sure?" The Illusive Man asked. "I think you know what's here, Shepard… I think you felt it."
"What the hell are you talking about?" The Commander nearly yelled, and it was more defensive than he meant.
But Shepard was sure he had no idea what he meant.
"What were you doing here?" Liara exclaimed. "The Reapers? The Sangheili? Your Spartans? How does this help you take control of the Reapers?"
"To achieve mankind's ascension, doctor," he replied.
There was…a scream. A gurgling, crunching scream orientating from behind the wall.
And the Commander realized he heard it before.
"My Spartans have one order: Contain," the Illusive Man said. "And you are greatly impeding this objective. If they were able to reach the standard I required, the standard of the original Spartans, this would have been achieved despite your interference."
"Like the Master Chief?" Shepard asked through the fear, "like Blue Team."
"Trust me, Commander," the Illusive Man said. "You bought us some time when you destroyed the Collectors, the Alpha relay… You were the original catalyst, the one that started it all…"
He was silent for a moment, observing the dead, "these were supposed to be the real heroes. And if we had more time, if I had more volunteers and subjects…"
"How many people died for this? How many men?" Shepard asked.
"Men?" The Illusive Man clarified. "All of our Spartan candidates are….were children. Teenagers now… Just like the originals."
There was another echo. Something struck one of the pods, shattering glass. It echoed. The Illusive Man looked around at the crypts of ice.
"You're safe for now, Commander… Preciously so, all being said," the Illusive Man took out another cigarette from his suit pocket. "But for your own safety… It speaks to me…
"And it tells me this place will be your tomb."