Commander Shepard jolted awake, gasping for air and coughing as her eyes snapped open.
Immediately, her eyes were struck with the harsh glare of the sun, causing her to squint and release a hissing wheeze. Where was she? What had happened? She slowly opened her eyes again, seeing a blue sky, and a bright sun. She coughed, struggling to bring air into her lungs. Felt like a Krogan was sitting on her chest.
Gradually, the air returned to her lungs and she could breathe properly again. She tried to move, to sit up or look around, but her body wasn't responding.She closed her eyes again, gritting her teeth.
"Focus on your hands, form a fist," she told herself.
Slowly, very slowly, her right hand closed into a fist before opening again. Then the left did the same. Like a trickle of water, feeling gradually returned to her, and with it came the pain.
She hurt all over, like she had been thrown through a high wall before falling to the ground below. Shaking her head, she slowly sat up, groaning in pain from her sore muscles. She opened her eyes, and scanned her surroundings. She was in, a junkyard?
As far as she could see, the rusty shells of cars and planes littered the ground. Snow had covered it in a light blanket of white, blown up by a bitter wind and eroding away the rusted metal. However, what confused her the most were the rusted cars. They were human cars. And not just that, but old ones, like from films taking place centuries in the past old. Where the hell was she? She placed an armored hand on her throbbing forehead. What had happened? How did she get here? She struggled to remember.
She had been on the Normandy, on route to…. somewhere, when they received a strange transmission. Not a message, or a warning, just a signal, almost like a homing beacon. They had followed it. Garrus, Liara and herself had gone down to investigate and….
She growled in frustration, unable to remember any more than that. Why couldn't she remember what happened? She'd never struggled with memory loss before. Something truly terrible, or weird, must have happened. Then a thought struck her. Liara and Garrus!
Her head shot up, and she scanned the surrounding area. They were no were in sight. Gone. She panicked slightly, but only a little. They may be trapped and separated in an unknown location, but she was confident that they'd be able to meet up again. If they all ended up here. The panic tried to return, but she pushed it away. Panicking would help nothing and she needed to remain calm if she was going to find them.
She rose to her feet with difficulty, cursing her sore body. Despite the pain, her armor was intact and she appeared to have no injuries. No blood, which was a relief considering how terrible she felt. Somehow, she had managed to lose her helmet and weapons. Luckily, the air was perfectly breathable, but not having weapons bothered her.
With another hiss of pain, she lifted her arm and attempted to activate her omni-tool. Hopeflly, she'd be able to pick up a communication from either of her companions. However, the device failed to respond. She frowned, and tried again to turn it on. The holographic device flickered to life for a second before sputtering off.
She cursed her luck. Without her omni-tool, she was left with little more than her armor and her wit, stuck in the middle of a strange, unknown place with unknown dangers. Sighing heavily, she shook her head again to clear away the lingering dizziness and migraine. She needed to get moving, who knew what threats this land might hold, or what danger her friends could be in.
Checking her surroundings one final time, she settled on heading towards a large, rusted plane that sat atop a hill. Hopefully she'd be able to climb up it and find something useful in this wasteland. Settng off towards the plane, she held a hand against her sore stomach, a slight limp maring her step.
"Garrus. Liara. Wherever you are, don't worry. I'm coming for you."
Tri Saberlinx-013 remained completely still, holding his auto rifle close to his chest. Their target was close, and they were not going to let him escape this time.
He and his fire-team, known as Saber Squad, had been pursuing Archon Priest Javvick for nearly two days now. Now at last, they had found him, and prepared a trap to eliminate him for good.
The archon and his personal escort would be moving down the ruins of this city street on a routine checkup of House of Winter supplies. It was within this street, along an intersection, were they would strike.
Tri had placed himself on the ground, hidden in the alleyway. As the team's titan, he was meant to be the muscle, smashing through Javvick's shields and being a diversion. Crystal, the fire team's warlock, was positioned within one of the buildings. If he looked, he could just make out the tip of her hand cannon along the windows edge. Without a doubt, she was crouching beneath it, ready to release her nova bomb when the time came. However, possibly the most important member, Amber, was located on the roof of a nearby five story building. As the team's hunter, she was wielding her sniper rifle, her scope drained on the streets. It was her job was to eliminate anyone that tried to run and deal heavy damage from long range.
The plan was simple. Once Javvick and his escorts arrived, Tri would roll a flash grenade out in front of them, blinding them. Amber would then snipe their Servitor while it was distracted. She'd then put a few rounds into Javvick's legs to discourage him from running. Crystal would then leap out and launch her nova bomb, obliterating the guards and draining Javvick's shields. Tri would then leap out and proceed to unload his rifle into the target as Crystal and Amber took crack shots, each one's main focus being to keep Javvick from running.
Suddenly, a low chittering noise sounded from down the street, causing Tri's body to tense. He carefully glanced around his cover and got a good look at their target.
Walking down the street, twenty yards out, was Javvick. Standing at ten feet tall, his large helmet caught the glare of the fading sun. His armor was like most Archon's but bore some noticeable differences. Vex platting was bolted to his chest, left shoulder and right arm, a head piece welded between his two horns. Bits of spare cable and wiring dangled from his limbs and hips, an a still pulsing Vex core was strapped onto his back.
Javvick was known for his obsession with the Vex, and it definitely showed. Even his weapon, an enlarged shrapnel launcher, had Vex tech attached to it, most likely to improve its killing potential. Surrounding him were his guards, consisting of 10 dregs, 8 vandals, 2 captains, and a Servitor.
Sizing up the opposition, Tri withdrew his grenade and waited. He began counting to himself softly, listening to the steps of their targets. 10, 9, 8, 7. The vandels were conversing, their low growls rumbling in the still air. 6, 5, 4. A dreg stepped on a piece of glass, causing a cracking noise to ring out. 3, 2, 1! Tri popped the pin and rolled the grenade. There'd be no escape this time.
A cry of alarm sounded from one of the dregs before the grenade went off with an electrical thud. Tri, whipped around the corner, raising his auto rifle and getting a good look at the carnage he'd caused.
The Fallen were screaming in pain and confusion, the dregs practically tripping over each other while their superiors growled in frustration. Their eyes were covered due to the pain, leaving them completely exposed. The entire company was in utter panic, completely caught of guard. It couldn't be more perfect. That's when the shots rang out.
Clear and true, sniper rounds tore through the air, striking the Servitor right in its eye. The globular machine groaned in outrage, it's structure failing as it's core was breached. With a horrid whine and a pop, the machine exploded, showering the fallen with shrapnel as the protective field it was generating fizzled out. Another round rang out, striking Javvick's unshielded knee, causing him to stumble, growling in pain. With the grace of a ballroom dancer, Crystal leapt out of the window, her momentum carrying her into the air as she reared her arm back. Her hand glowed brightly with void energy before she thrust it forward, launching out her Nova bomb straight towards the Fallen's feet. The resulting explosion completely vaporized the guards in a wave of purple energy, leaving behind a disoriented and damaged Archon.
Tri leapt from his cover and yelled, charging the Archon as he let loose with his rifle. The archon lifted his head just in time to catch several rounds to his face, causing him to stumble back from the force of the impacts. Leaping into the air, Tri continued to fire into the Archon, hoping to disorient him farther. However, the archon recovered quickly.
Swinging his large arms, he swatted Tri from the air, propelling the titan into a nearby building. The unstable wall collapsed on top of him, trapping him underneath the rubble. With a furious roar, Javvick lifted his shrapnel launcher and revealed the Vex slap rifles bolted to his lower arms, his shields crackling to life. He opened fire at the surrounding guardians, cursing them in his native tongue.
Amber rolled away from the buildings edge, barely dodging the molten junk that hissed by. Crystal dove back into her building, avoiding the slap fire. Pressing her back to the wall, she placed a hand on her helmet.
"Tri! Are you ok?"
The titans voice groaned over the comms; clearly he was having trouble digging himself out of the rubble.
"Don't worry. I'll be fine. But he's going to regret punching me into this wall. Keep him pinned until i get out!
She lowered her hand, glancing back out the window. Javvick had his full attention on Amber, who was desperately trying to avoid the fire of his five guns. Looking to her left, Crystal spotted a busted down door. Thinking fast, she rolled to her left and came up on one knee. Raising her Byronic Hero hand cannon, she fired off three shots, the first connecting with Javvick's shrapnel launcher, throwing off his aim, while the other two plowed into his head.
The archon immediately stopped firing, snarling as he turned to face Crystal, guns raised. She quickly dove through the door way, but not before tossing her scatter grenade. The ball of void energy bounced off the Fallen's head before breaking, scattering its bomblets all over his body and covering him in Void explosions. His shields faltered, threatening to break.
Amber, seeing an opening, leapt off her building towards the roof of a shorter one, using her double jump to cushion the fall. Kneeling down again, she raised her sniper rifle and fired three armor piercing rounds into Javvick's head, resulting in his shields breaking with a crack before the last bullet buried itself into his helmet. Javvick stumbled forward, the bullet impacting the back of his head and catching him off guard. He turned to face her, but was greeted with two more rounds striking his face, busting some of the glowing lights on the helmet staggering him. He then roared in fury, swinging his lower arms in a wide arch, forcing both Amber and Crystal to dive for cover as their shields nearly broke. That's when Tri finally arrived.
Having freed himself from the wall, he sprinted towards Javvick, roaring in fury. As he drew closer, he lowered his shoulder, electricity crackling around his body. Javvick turned just in time for Tri to shoulder smash straight into him, arc energy exploding from the impact. Javvick was knocked to the ground, with Tri straddling on top of him. Raising a crackling fist, he smashed it into Javvick's face, resulting in another explosion of arc energy that cracked the archon's mask. Purple blood spirted out, spattering Tri's chestplate.
Javvick groaned, but it quickly morphed into a snarl as he smashed his own fist into Tri's chest. The titan was sent flying again, pummeled off the archons chest. However, unlike before, Tri caught himself midair, skidding to a halt on his feet. He rose his rifle and let loose.
Javvick struggled to his feet, roaring as he lifted his lower arms and fired the slap rifles at Tri, but the titan ignored the shots and continued to fire.
Frustrated, Javvick charged Tri, firing his shrapnel launcher as he went. Tri's shields broke, forcing him to leap out of the way as the Archon barreled past. He looked down, spotting a few burning holes in his armor, and noticed the feedback jam, but he ignored it. Pain was meaningless to an exo.
Another sniper round struck Javvick's head, causing him to stumble again as he turned to face attackers. Amber lept down from her perch and landed next to Tri, raising her scout rifle and adding her fire to his. At the same time, Crystal emerged, her New Monarchy sidearm in hand as she also began unloading into Javvick. The archon was riddled with bullets, disorienting him with pain and concussive force.
However, before they could kill him, Javvick slammed his right fist into the ground. Immediately, a white shield, similar to a Vex Hydra's, materialized before him, blocking all their rounds. Tri held up a fist, and the guardians stopped shooting. Javvick was breathing heavy, multiple cuts and bullet wounds leaking blood and ether onto the ground as he slowly backed down the street. Suddenly, he dropped the shield, and took off so fast that it surprised the guardians.
Quickly calling in their sparrows, they chased after him as fast as they could. Incredibly, the Archon was still able to out run them, despite the fact he was not only on foot, but also a 10-foot behemoth running down crowded and decrepit streets. The sparrows were barely keeping pace.
"Crystal, flank left. Amber and I will keep him busy."
Crystal responded with, "Copy that" before turning off at the nearest intersection. They continued chasing Javvick, taking many twists and turns, but were always several steps behind him.
"Geez, I never knew that Fallen could run this fast for this long."
Tri gave Amber a quick glance. No doubt she had a look of shock on her face. He shrugged. "Can't keep it up forever. He'll run out of road or…"
Before he could finish, Crystal appeared directly in front of Javvick's path. She quickly blinked off of her sparrow, narrowly dodging out of the way as he ran straight into it. The vehicle exploded as he struck it, sending him careening through a warehouse wall and smashing through it with a thunderous crash. The guardians quickly lept off their sparrows, guns pointed at the large hole smashed in the wall. Within, Javvick lay, sprawled out on the floor and barely moving.
Slowly, they entered the warehouse, and they saw why he wasn't moving. A large metal beam had impaled itself through his chest, effectively skewering him and pinning him to the ground. Purple blood ran like rivers down his chest, and one of his upper arms was bent at an awkward angle. His helmet was cracked opening, showing his four, pupil-less blue eyes and his blade like teeth, ether leaking from the breached helmet with a low hiss. He glared at the guardians, attempting to rise, grabbing at the beam in his chest, but this resulted in him coughing up more blood as he groaned in pain. He fell back to the floor, gasping for breath.
Tri turned to his companions. "Stand down. I will settle this."
The two women glanced at him before lowering their guns and looking back at the almost heartbreaking sight, neither comfortable with it. Though she'd never say it out loud, Crystal took no pleasure in killing or causing harm, but she still did it out of duty. However, it pained her to see any life-form, even a fallen, suffering. Amber on the other hand had no issues with killing her foes. This however, this brutality was comparable to torture, and she wasn't a fan of that.
Tri approached Javvick, his Future War Cult fusion rifle appearing in his hands. He climbed up, standing on the fallen's chest, causing Javvick to cough again from the added weight. Tri aimed his gun towards his head, and Javvick turned to face it, locking eyes with the guardian.
"If you think I'm the most dangerous thing in this system, you are sorely mistaken."
The voice was weak, harsh, and spoken with a guttural accent. Tri lowered his gun slightly. He knew that fallen were capable of speaking English, he just never expected Javvick to be one to do it. Narrowing his eyes, Tri rose his gun again.
"You may not be the most dangerous, but you are still an enemy of the city."
Javvick laughed painfully, more blood seeping from his mouth as he coughed again.
"Of course. Your precious Last City. You truly believe that it won't fall?"
Tri went to speak, but was cut off.
"Your dead god won't save you from what's coming."
That perked Tri's interest.
"And what exactly is coming?"
Coughing, Javvick spoke in a weak but deadly tone.
"A storm. A storm that will consume all life within this galaxy. Eliksni, Human, Cabal, Hive, Vex, and hundreds of others. ALL WILL DIE!"
His voice grew distant and shaky.
"I've seen it. I've looked into the eyes of the Vex and seen what they fear. The instruments of our destruction have been chosen, and when they arrive, nothing will survive."
Having heard enough, Tri dropped to one knee, driving it into the flesh around the beam. Javvick choked slightly before coughing up more blood as Tri locked eyes with him.
"And why are you telling me this?"
The life was draining from his eyes, but Javvick still smirked weakly. In defiance, he said nothing, glaring up at Tru as the light slowly faded from his eyes. He slumped to the ground, forcing Tri to shift to prevent himself from falling off. With a sigh, the guardian lowered his head, and his ghost emerged, its blue eye illuminated the massive corpse.
Glancing towards it, Tri asked, "What do you think all that was about?"
His ghost narrowed its eye before flying over and began scanning Javvick's face and helmet. The small machine then spoke in a strong, masculine voice that could pull off humor if he wanted to, but mostly remained serious.
"I'm not sure, but it might be wise to warn the vanguard about this."
Tri rose a metal brow beneath his helmet but his ghost answered his question before he could ask it.
"Javvick is well known among the Fallen as a prophet and mystic. It's said that his tampering with the Vex drove him mad, but if I'm reading this correctly, he wasn't wrong. There truly is something that the Vex fear is coming. Something big."
He turned and faced Tri, who stared at him with a disbelieving look.
"Please don't tell me that you're actually saying that…"
"That the words of a half mad Archon are true. Of course not. What I'm saying is that what he said goes along with these Vex data files."
Tri sighed, then slid off the body, approaching his squad. Amber tilted her head before speaking.
"What were you doing to his body?"
Tri shrugged, waving her off.
"You know Sparks, he likes to overanalyze everything."
"This has to do with the threat he gave, doesn't it?"
He turned and looked at Crystal. He should have known she would agree with Sparks and take interest in it. She usually did, and she was a warlock after all.
"Yes but, really, it's nothing important."
"You call a threat of the total annihilation of all life nothing important?"
"A threat coming from the mouth of a dying, delusional, half-mad lunatic? You can't possible think he was being serious."
"Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with Tri. Dead fallen don't seem like the most reliable source."
Crystal sighed, rolling her eyes at them. "Are you two really that thick that you're not even a little bit concerned about this?"
Tri raised his hands slightly in surrender.
"Ok. Calm down. I'm going to report it to the Vanguard, and let them handle it, alright."
She sighed, then nodded.
"Alright. I guess that's all we can do."
Tri then placed a finger on his helmet, signaling their ships to come and pick them up.
As the ships appeared, Amber turned to Crystal.
"Hey Chris. I need to head to Old Russia and pick up some more spin metal. Want to come with? I'll teach you how to throw a knife."
Crystal sighed, shaking her head. She never liked that nickname Amber gave her, but no amount of asking would get her to stop.
"No. I need to get back to the Tower and finish my research."
Even through the transmat, she could hear Amber groan.
"Ugh. You guys are so lame. One wants to turn in a dumb report and the other wants to stick her nose in more books. Don't you ever do anything exciting."
Tri huffed over the comms. "Don't you ever stop complaining?" Amber snapped at him,
"Zip it spark plug!"
"Shut it meat bag!", he shot back.
Amber chuckled some as Crystal groaned in annoyance. These were the common insults that the two shared, and despite Crystal's insistence, they never stopped the name calling, even during open combat. Luckily, Tri enjoyed the name calling almost as much as she did, and it was now basically their way of letting off steam, unless of course it got to the point when they started swinging, which only happened about once every few months.
"Fine. I'll just go by myself. If I find a legendary item, I'm not sharing it."
Tri rolled his optics. "Like that ever happens."
With that, their ships took off towards earth. Once they arrived, two went towards the Last City, while the third turned towards Old Russia.
Shepard grunted in pain as she hauled herself up on top of the old plane. Why was she in so much pain? It wasn't like she hadn't been injured before. Something really weird must have happened to her. Having finally reached the top of the large wreckage, she stood up, and scanned the surrounding area. The junkyard stretched as far as she could see in every direction.
However, the more she looked, thr more she realized that this wasn't a junkyard at all. Yes, she could clearly see that this was an old interstate. She could make out the old and broken down asphalt and even the remains of an old overpass in the distance. This was definitely something out of old earth. But how could this possibly be earth? Interstates such as these had been repurposed long ago, and all this tech was recycled, not a single piece allowed to rust.
And yet, here she stood, within a graveyard of cars and planes along an old interstate. Also, how did the planes get here? She glanced down at the one she stood on. There wasn't much of it left. Mostly just the wings attached to a broken fuselage, certainly nothing that would explain how it got here.
"So, if this is earth, where are all the people?"
Her eyes fell upon something in the distance. She squinted, lifting her hand to cover her eyes from the sun so she could see it better. Yes, there was definitely a building over there, farther down in a valley. Looks almost like an old gas station. She shook her head. This was just too weird. She hopped down from the plane, then immediately regretted it when she hit the ground and her weak legs gave out, causing her to crumble to the ground and eat the dirt.
"Dang it! Stupid sore muscles."
She grumbled to herself, spitting dirt from her mouth as she stood back up.
"I hope this isn't permanent. Driving me crazy. I mean look, it's got me talking to myself."
She sighed in annoyance and set off towards the old building, attempting to walk quickly before returning back to her painful limp after her legs loudly protested. It was going to be a long day.
Finally, after about thirty minutes, she reached the building. Old and rusted would be an understatement. The metal walls were completely covered in rust, and all the windows were long gone. Snow had blown in through the large holes in the wall, and the ceiling had completely fallen in on one side. However, it provided shelter from the wind and glaring sun, so it was enough. Shepard placed her back to a wall, then slowly slid to the ground, hissing in pain as she did. Her muscles received sweet relief once she sat, and she let out an explosive sigh, resting her head against the wall.
"This sucks," she groaned aloud, knowing full well that no was around to hear the complaint.
She closed her eyes, and listened to the sound of the wind, the creaking roof and the static muttering of a communicator. Her eyes opened again. Communicator?
She could hear it clearly now. The distinctive buzz of static along with some kind of speaking. She sat up as quickly as her body allowed before walking into a second room. There, sitting in the corner, was something she couldn't identify. It was about 5 feet tall, and looked like a pillar of some sort, made out of welded plates of red metal. Yellow lights dotted it here and there, but most interestingly was the large white… symbol, crudely painted on its side. It was two incomplete circles, underlined with a line that curled downwards on the left side. A second line was above the right-hand circle, before turning sharply and running down the right side of the symbol. The static and muttering was definitely coming from this device, and now that she could see it, she was certain that it was alien in design. She walked up to it, and ran a hand across its surface. No rust. These plates were smooth and clean, even slightly warm, and the lights on it shone brightly, not a single bulb was broken. She studied it, trying to find a button or switch, anything to use the device for her advantage. But she found nothing. Why was this alien communicator on earth, if this was earth? What happened to this place?
Amber lept over the stone with graceful agility, flipping in the air. In the same motion, she released her knife, throwing it towards her target. It flew through the air in perfect spirals before connecting with the skull of the unaware dreg. It let out a short scream of pain, its body going ridged as a large amount of gaseous ether erupted from the skull around the puncture wound before the dreg dropped dead to the ground.
Landing on her feet like a cat, Amber strode up to the dead alien and pulled her knife out, wiping the ether off on her sleeve before she stuck it back in its sheathe. She was always one to brag about her skills in killing with stealth, but this time, it was a dreg, and therefore wasn't terribly impressive. Stretching her shoulders, she started jogging up a hill. So far, her trip had been successful. She'd found 4 pieces of spin metal, and had completed a search and destroy patrol, earning some extra glimmer. With luck, the old gas station up ahead had another piece inside.
As she got closer she heard the familiar buzzing of a Fallen transmitter. Odd, she didn't remember one being here. With a shrug, she stepped into the gas station, and spotted what she was looking for. She squatted down next to the spindly silver weed, drawing her knife and cutting it free from its base. She held it up, allowing her ghost to transmat it into storage.
"How many more till I can upgrade my sniper Buggy?"
She glanced to the side where her bright green Ghost materialized. Yellow butterfly wing patterns flanked its yellow eye, and it spoke with a soft, feminine voice.
"About three more to get the capacity upgrade. Four if you want the stabilizer as well."
"That's true. Definitely worth it."
She stood back up and walked into the other room. There in the corner was the transmitter. Buggy flew over too it, and began scanning it.
"Anything interesting?" Amber asked, tilting her head.
However, Buggy remained silent, surprising Amber. Usually ghosts, especially Buggy, responded quickly, so if a ghost was silent, it usually meant they had found something either shocking or unknown.
"The fallen," her Ghosts voice came back slow and unsure, "seem to have found something of interest."
"Really? What is it? Another working jump ship? Maybe a nuke?" Amber crossed her arms, curious to what they had found.
Buggy shook from side to side. "No. A person! They seem to have found a human-like creature which they can't identify."
Amber rose a brow in confusion as Buggy continued.
"The Devils found it within the wasteland, and their trying to contact their Kell for conformation on what to do."
Amber stroked her chin, or more accurately, the bottom of her helmet, thinking to herself. A human like creature that's not human? Can't be Hive, the Fallen would know that, so what could it…
Her train of thought was interrupted by an unknown female voice.
"Hello?"
Amber spun around, pulling out her scout rifle and aiming it at the female's head, whose hands immediately shot up in surrender. After a few seconds, Amber took her head away from her rifle scope, confused. Before her stood a human woman. Middle aged. Red hair and green eyes. She was wearing form fitting black body armor, quite unlike anything she had seen before. A red and white stripe ran down her right arm, from shoulder to wrist. The symbols N7 were placed on the right side of her breast plate.
Amber scanned her up and down. Asides from the strange armor, she seems like a perfectly normal human, but it was clear she wasn't a guardian. She was also completely unarmed; however, her armor did bare noticeable battle damage in the form of scuffs and burns. The woman stared back at her with equal amounts of confusion, however, despite having her hands held up, her eyes showed no fear whatsoever. A brave one. Amber lowered her rifle, and tilted her head.
"What the hell is someone like you doing out here?"
Authors Note: First chapter, done. Not many changes this time, but more will come in future. Until then, please feel free to review and comment. I'd love to hear from old and new readers alike. Until next time, ZOMAN out!