Quick A/N: PYW will be receiving weekly updates every Friday by Midnight CST!
The meeting with the council went…poorly. I should've expected it, politicians hadn't changed in the last two and a half millennia.
Bunch of self-serving bureaucrats one and all.
"History will remember them as cowards." I muttered as the holograms switched off.
"They didn't even let you get a single word in." Shepard sighed, rubbing at her forehead in exasperation.
"When you're not physically in the same room, it's easy to just cut a connection. They're still on their victory tour from dealing with Sovereign, so they're delegating everything they can so they can stay hands-off." Anderson explained, letting out an irritated huff of his own before settling in his desk. "They don't want to touch the issue of Reapers with a ten foot pole, and want to be called out on their ignorance even less."
"It's not all bad. I got my Spectre status reinstated."
"They gave Napoleon an Island named Elba, and when he returned declared him an Enemy and Disturber of the Tranquility of the World." I snarked, earning a sheepish look from the Spectre.
"Well, I'm not Napoleon Bonaparte, Harrison."
I gave a small smirk before counting off on my fingers.
"One: immensely popular with the common folk, not so much with the powers that be outside of who you represent.
Two: tactically minded and adept at warfare,
Three: attempting to unify a divided, war-torn people."
Silence reigns for a second before Anderson chuckles heartily.
"He's got you there, Mary." He spoke, grinning widely.
Shepard let out a sigh before turning to leave,
"Any short jokes, and I swear to god I will have you peeling potatoes for months."
"I'll have a 'shine still running in a week."
I think I'm gonna enjoy these ground missions.
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Throughout history there's been locations where the morally bankrupt but wealthy flock to for relaxation and pleasure.
Argentina, the Cayman Islands…Hollywood.
Bekenstein was no different. Corrupt as all Hades governors, a million and a half different legal advisors and attorneys dedicated to preventing extradition.
The planet itself was beautiful, don't get me wrong, but the view was spoiled by who I know called this place home. Not to mention the way I was to be smuggled into the little soirée Donny Hock was throwing.
"No."
"You either get in the statue or sit in the shuttle. Shepard's cover only allows herself and maybe a plus one. You're obviously muscle, big guy, and Hock will catch onto us if Alison Gunn is the arm candy and not the other way around." Kasumi explained, and I let out a long suffering sigh.
"This is your only shot at getting to Hock, Axios." Shepard threw in,
"Fine, I'll get in the damned statue."
The massive bronzed statue of Saren was mostly hollow. Just hollow enough to cram my unarmored form into and have enough room to breathe. I meditated whilst waiting for Shepard and Kasumi to pop the Vault. I listened the radio chatter.
"How you holding up in there, big guy?" Kasumi inquired about ten minutes in,
"I'm fine, I would appreciate haste, however." I spoke softly, feeling the condensation of my breath growing on the bronze in front of my lips. "This is eerily similar to a bronze bull. I don't like it."
"Working as fast as we can here, Axios. Kasumi, did you get that voice sample you need?" Shepard spoke quickly,
"I got what I need, time for DNA." Kasumi responded quickly, and they moved on.
Another ten minutes later I heard two sets of footsteps and I was released from my bronzed coffin.
"Do I get to stab things now?" I asked, earning a smile and a nod as the base of the statue opened up and our equipment deployed.
"Stab, shoot, punch, if it's not me or Kasumi, I want it on the ground." Shepard declared, and I grinned as I strapped my shield's bracer to my arm.
"But what is shooting, but stabbing someone with a very fast spearhead?"
"Very funny, Diogenes. Kasumi, how's that door coming?"
"Open Says Me!" The thief cheered quietly as the massive vault door slid open.
"I miss the days when all you needed to rob someplace was a set of picks and a bandanna." I muttered, stepping forward and leading the way down whilst activating my shield and flicking my shotgun into an active configuration.
"When was the last time you got involved with stealing something, Big Guy?" Kasumi asked, falling in step behind me with Shepard following suit.
"'71, robbed a Batarian raiding party en route to Eden Prime." I quickly responded with a grunt.
"Wait a second, I heard about that. Alliance reports called it a skirmish between two sets of pirates." Shepard commented whilst keeping her barrel forward.
"If you steal a ship in interterritorial space it's considered piracy by Citadel Law." Kasumi supplied, and I nodded,
"Every couple of years I go slaver-hunting. Helps keep the blood flowing." Our conversation cut as we entered the Vault proper.
Relics from every culture and homeworld, but we tempered our awe in favor of checking for hostiles among the priceless collection, finding none, we went about looking for what we were here for.
I did give a growl at seeing Lady Liberty's head here, however. Even so, I quickly hounded down what I had requested to be on this trip for. A bronze helm, a broken spear, and a Hoplon that had persevered through the centuries.
"Hello, my King…I'm gonna bring you home again. I swear it." I whispered softly, before straightening back up and turning to find Shepard waiting behind me with her hands on her hips.
"Yours?" She asks,
"No." I replied. "They belong to Leonidas."
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We quickly rejoined Kasumi, and located Keiji's graybox. The moment we secured it, however, Hock locked us in.
"Did you honestly think that I wouldn't recognize the first human Spectre?!" He monologued via a holographic display.
"Ah, Miss Goto, here for your partner's graybox? My technicians have yet to crack its encryption, but with you here…I think with enough pressure, you will-"
BANG!
Shepard cut him off by shooting a rather gaudy urn.
"That looked expensive."
Hock's face twisted into a snarl so mad it was comedic.
"Guards! Kill them, Rip that graybox out of Goto's skull!" He declared, and the fight was on.
The eclipse mercenaries deployed smoke, for what little good it did them.
Kasumi cloaked and went off to harass their back line, I deployed my shield and Shepard used me as cover, hunkering behind my larger form and began utilizing her biotics to pull guards out of the smoke.
It was akin to shooting skeet.
We pushed forward, the mercenaries were trained, but undisciplined. When facing a tactic they had no experience with, they scattered. I moved from cover to cover, drawing their fire with the bright orange of my shield and the booming shots that rang out every time one of them thought to try and flank.
"Flank right, get their attention. I'll circle around to their rear. I have a plan. Kasumi, meet me at David." Shepard spoke into our comm link, tapping me on the shoulder twice and I surged forward, roaring.
"COME ON THEN! LET ME SHOW YOU HOW WE BROUGHT THE PAIN IN MY DAY!" I shouted, blasting off a few slugs. I sent their technician down in a heap of sparking shields and shattered armor, their compatriot who moved to pull her into cover was rewarded with a tungsten slug through his brain stem.
A few rushed me, but they're no Immortals, they're no Gauls. They meet shield and blade, my xiphos is long gone to dust, but the Omni-blade serves the same purpose.
A few moments pass and my ears are treated to the sound of a pair of potent submachine guns tearing into the enemy's back line. An heavy impact rocks my shield arm and I see the technician I shot earlier blasting an M6 Carnifex at me and snarling through bloody teeth.
She charges, blasting fire and spitting bloody curses until she crashes upon the shield. I charged, forcing her backward into the lines of fire belonging to Shepard and Kasumi.
Her body dances macabre as she's riddled with fire, before she slumps to the ground, eyes dull and blood seeping from underneath her.
I learned later on that her name was Roe. Respect where it's due. She fought to her last.