Time aboard the Normandy was a bit different for the slayer. It had been a long time since he had any interaction with people for an extended period of time, not counting the brief moments he'd had with members from ARC and the surviving, non-possessed, UAC personnel during the invasion of Earth.
It had been a couple days since he and Liara had been brought aboard. During that time the ground team had undertaken a couple of small missions on their way back to the Citadel. One of which involved dealing with a biotic cult, while another involved an old case of Garrus' from his time at C-Sec.
Flynn hadn't been on either mission. Shepard kept the team to three or four people given the delicate situation of each of those missions. That, and he had a feeling she thought his style of fighting would have made things too chaotic with too much bloodshed.
He couldn't blame her.
During the trip, the slayer noted that the crew of the Alliance vessel avoided him like the plague. Then again, a good chunk of the crew did that with the non-human members of the ground team. Either from xenophobic views or general weariness Flynn didn't know which. And honestly he didn't care.
He kept to himself a great deal of the time, preferring it that way. Although he had started to notice Shepard watching him closely out of the corner of her eye whenever he was in the room. When he saw Chakwas doing it as well Flynn figured that it probably had something to do with the exam he'd been given the first day.
The slayer expected something strange to come up. His time with the Argentians had changed him greatly, from absorbing the natural Argent energy given off from the Wraiths, and later the demons, and the power he'd been granted from the Divinity Machine. It would be pretty hard to miss if a medical scan picked it up.
So much for doctor/patient confidentiality. Then again this was a military ship.
The other members of the ground team seemed to keep away from him as well, save for Liara and Wrex. One because they shared a kinship for brutal fighting and violence, and the other because they had already formed a small bond when he saved her from the Geth.
He even went and visited her once in a while. Even though he liked being on his own, the slayer couldn't help but feel a little comfortable around the young Asari.
Perhaps it had been because the only companionship he had after being free of the cursed sarcophagus was an AI and later the mind of a man-turned-cyborg and she was the first 'real' person he had seen and talked with that wasn't terrified of him. Or maybe because she needed his help and wasn't expecting anything in return.
The only thing Flynn knew for certain was that the moment he looked into those innocent sapphire-blue eyes he felt the sudden urge to protect her. It certainly didn't help that she was just as beautiful to behold as he remembered on a screen in his old life.
Despite how much he had changed after an untold number of years, his old personality still bled through from time to time. And he was happy that parts of the old him had survived after all this time.
But at the present, save for Liara, the slayer kept to himself and didn't feel the need to change that anytime soon. However, there was someone who he knew would try to change that. And it was only a matter of time until she-
"Hey."
Speak of the devil.
Flynn looked up from his resting position leaning against the Normandy's hull while sitting on his crate and found Jane standing there with her arms crossed. The slayer had a feeling she would be paying him a visit, she usually did rounds checking on the rest of the crew every so often and chatting with them a bit. Getting to know her team.
Shepard. He signed after uncrossing his arms from his chest.
"Thought I'd stop by and see how you were settling in." the Commander continued, hoping to start a conversation.
The slayer shrugged, I've slept in worse places. If only she knew how true that statement was.
Jane nodded, "Getting along with the crew? They can be a bit jumpy around new recruits. Especially when they stand out like you do."
They have a right to be afraid. Flynn signed, his face serious behind his visor. It'll keep them alert. Ready to fight.
The Commander furrowed her brow, trying her best to search his expression through his visor but came up empty. She sighed after a few moments and rubbed her eyes. "Alright, I'm just going to cut to the chase." she said before looking him dead in the eye. "I have a lot of questions. More than I ever thought I would have after knowing someone only a day or so."
Flynn looked back at her, a brief silence passing between them before he leaned forward on the crate. Ask away then. But don't expect all the answers. Everyone is entitled to their secrets. He signed bluntly and honestly.
Jane nodded and took a deep breath, "What were you doing on Therum? It was a good thing you were there to assist Liara and us. But why were you there?"
Crash landed. The slayer answered simply.
"You crash landed?" asked the Commander, wanting to clarify and got a nod. "And you decided to kill Geth and help wayward archeologists?"
Flynn shrugged. Seemed like the right thing to do. And the Geth were pissing me off.
Shepard nodded herself, "Okay...how did you get so many scars?" She felt a little awkward asking such a question. But to see that much scar tissue on one person overroad any form of hesitation.
She'd seen a survivor from a Thresher Maw attack that had less damage done to them.
Fighting. Flynn signed. Causing the Commander to raise an eyebrow.
"That's it? Fighting?" The slayer nodded. "What were you fighting?"
A far away look passed Flynn's eyes, his fists clenching at the memories of battles fought against the demons before he quelled the growing fury. Things you should pray you never meet. In this life of the next.
Jane's curiosity peaked. She saw his reaction, albeit brief, and knew she found something to look into later. "How long have you been fighting?" she asked, trying a different approach.
Flynn sighed, A long time.
The Commander wondered what he meant. He looked to be in his twenties if she wasn't mistaken, so how long could he have been fighting? And what exactly did he fight to leave marks on him like the ones she had seen?
"What do you think of the mission? About our hunt for Saren?" she asked, deciding to shift gears.
Saren will pay for what he's done. I'll make sure of that.The slayer signed. He'd read the reports that had been given to him about what had happened on Eden Prime and whatever data that could be compiled about the former Spectre.
Even though he knew the plot, it was best to get as much detailed information as possible. Not wanting to overlook something by mistake. And in the process he learned more about Saren than he originally knew…
And he wanted to mount the split-chinned bastard's head on the wall. Him and Sovereign both.
"Glad to hear it." said Jane, "Just remember we're part of a team. I have no doubts that you can hold your own, but there's more than just you out there. Alright?"
Flynn gave her a look before nodding slowly. The Commander nodded back, "I should get going, got rounds to finish. Hopefully we can talk again sometime." With that she turned and headed in the direction of the drive core.
The slayer watched her leave before shaking his head and leaning back against the hull of the ship, letting his mind drift once more.
So much for solitude.
X
On the crew deck, inside her own little space at the back of the medical bay. Liara had just finished going over a couple of Prothean data disks that she had collected from the ruins of Therum.
Cataloging and saving them into her terminal and making several copies for good measure.
It had been an interesting couple of days to say the least, but she had been adjusting as best she could to her new place on the Normandy. Most of the crew was still weary of her, given that her mother was helping Saren in his plans. Thankfully the Commander made it her mission to ensure that she was comfortable like the rest of the ground team.
Recently she had been taken on a mission to bring down a cult of human biotics that had taken a VIP hostage. Shepard had managed to talk down the leader and bring a peaceful solution without violence. The young Asari had to admit that the Commander certainly had a way with words and could see how she had gotten her position.
She had also come by a couple of times to check on her and see how she was settling in, even asking about her field of study in the Protheans. Liara had even tried to help Shepard understand the vision given to her by the beacon and offered a mind-melding to see if she could make sense of the images in the human woman's head.
So far it was inconclusive. The images were garbled and didn't make sense. Though it was understandable since the beacons were meant to only work on a Prothean mind. It still surprised the Asari that the Commander's mind hadn't been destroyed during the transfer process.
Checking the time on her omni-tool, Liara decided now was a good time to take a break from her work and get something to eat. Leaving her little room, nodding to Chakwas as she passed her in the medbay, and entering the mess hall. She grabbed herself a tray before sitting at a table with Garrus and Tali.
When it came to the others on the ground team, aside from Shepard, the Turian C-Sec officer and Quarian engineer had been very kind and talkative with her. Kaidan would occasionally wave and say high from time to time, but Chief Williams did little to hide her discontent with her being on the ship and Wrex tended to ignore everybody.
The only other person that went out of their way to be around her was Flynn. There had been a couple of times where the armored human had come up to her workspace to visit her.
She'd been thankful that Shepard had sent her information about human sign language and was happy to finally talk with the mute warrior. Most of the time he would be sitting on the floor beneath the viewport in her room with his helmet beside him and listen to her talk about her research like she had with the Commander.
He'd asked, or rather signed, a couple of questions that she answered while she herself asked a couple of her own. Wanting to know more about the slayer that he was willing to tell her.
Liara couldn't help but blushed when she recalled the times Flynn would either smirk or smile when she got flustered after asking a question she thought was too personal. Like she had when asking about his scars. But he wasn't the least bit offended as he signed answers back to her...although he did avoid certain answers or subjects, such as where he was from and where he learned to fight like he did.
"Everything alright, Liara?" asked Tali, bringing the archeologist out of her thoughts.
"Y-Yes. Everything is fine." she replied as she started eating.
The two dextro-species looked at one another a moment before shrugging. "How's the research going? Have you found anything about the Conduit?" asked Garrus.
"Sadly, no. I've gone over every data disk I've managed to collect and combed over all the information I've collected over the years and have found nothing pertaining to the Conduit." said Liara. "Whatever it is, either the Protheans went out of their way to keep it hidden. Or the Reapers wiped all knowledge of it clean like they did with the Prothean empire."
"Then that means Saren could be having just as much trouble finding it as well." said Kaidan as he sat down at the table with them.
The four members of the team ate and had small talk before Joker came over the PA system of the ship.
"Head's up folks. Shepard wants everyone on the ground team to meet in the cargo hold for the next mission."
The team cleaned up their trays and took the elevator down to the cargo hold where Jane, Ashley and Wrex were already gathered. "Everybody suit and arm up. We'll be dropping to the planet's surface in the mako in fifteen."
Everyone began gathering their gear for the mission while Shepard started explaining what they were going to be doing when they noticed someone missing.
"Where's the walking tank?" asked Ashley as she condensed her rifle and stuck it to the magnetic rack on the back of her suit.
Loud, echoing footsteps answered her as Flynn came out from his corner with a large assault rifle in his hands. Snapping some kind of attachment to the side of the barrel and then a digital scope to the top rail.
Nodding to the Commander, she went back to explaining the mission. "I spoke with Admiral Kohaku back on the Citadel before we recruited Liara and Flynn. He told me that a squadron of Alliance marines under his command came out to check on a signal they picked up when near the planet Edolus. They went missing shortly after. Complete radio silence."
"So we're looking for the lost marines?" asked Garrus while adjusting his sniper rifle.
Jane nodded, "Best case scenario, we bring them back to the Citadel with us. Worst case, we collect their tags and find out what caused them to go silent."
"Let's get this over with then." said Wrex, wracking his shotgun.
Joker brought the Normandy into Edolus' orbit and hovered over the surface. The cargo bay door opened and the mako was dropped as the ship passed over, the tanks thrusters kicking in to slow the descent as all six wheels hit the ground.
Inside was a bit of a tight fit for the team of seven. Jane and Kaidan took the driver and passenger seat respectively, Garrus had the turret, and the others were squeezed in the back. Which was a bit difficult for Tali, Liara and Ashley with Wrex and Flynn taking up most of the space.
"I think the Skipper is going to have to figure out a rotation for our ops." Ashley groaned after the hard drop. "Makos weren't meant to handle guys your size." she said with a hard look at the two larger members of their team.
Wrex grunted while the slayer remained motionless. Liara pressed into his side with Tali beside her. The mako lurched forward as Shepard began to drive them over the planet's surface, the tank handling the rough terrain, but the interior still shook once or twice when she ran over something. The trip was made in relative silence as they followed the same signal the missing marines had been following when they disappeared.
Going over a small hill, Jane pulled the tank to a stop at the edge of a large crater, most likely caused by a meteor long ago that struck the planet's surface. The transmission was coming from the center of the crater.
They moved across the large open terrain with no trouble at all, but when they reached the location they were greeted with the sight of two Grizzlys that had been damaged beyond repair, one of which was flipped onto its roof.
"Something doesn't feel right about this." Garrus commented from the turret as he looked around. Jane was having a similar feeling, everything just seemed too convenient.
"Everyone be ready for anything." she said over her shoulder before driving into the crater and closer to where the signal was originating.
They found the source less than a minute later. The remains of two Alliance Grizzly-class tanks and the bodies of eight Alliance marines. Each one suffered from some kind of burns that had melted away at their armor, some of them missing limbs with faces frozen in abject horror.
The time piled out and formed a perimeter with Garrus remaining in the turret to provide cover while examining the site. "By the Goddess...what happened to them?" asked Liara as they took in the remains around them.
"I don't know, but a simple ambush couldn't do this." said Jane looking at the burn holes in the side of one of the Grizzlies. "What troubles me is that there were a dozen Marines in the team...what happened to the others?"
Tali shut down the beacon while Kaidan stood guard and Ashley collected the dogtags from the dead. "It's strange. There's just the beacon here. No crashed ship, no evac shuttles nearby. I'm getting a bad feeling about this." said the biotic, scanning the terrain around them
Wrex was examining one of the bodies with narrowed eyes, "I've seen this before." Flynn stood still, his heavy cannon in hand as he waited. It didn't take a genius to see this was a set up, even without his advanced knowledge. It was only a matter of time before-
The ground began to shudder under their feet, "What is that?" asked Liara, getting a bad feeling along with everyone else.
"Everyone to the Mako now!" Jane shouted as they began running back full sprint as the shaking got worse by the second.
The ground under the Mako suddenly exploded upward in a cloud of dust and rock. The team slid to a stop as the rover flipped over in the air and landed hard on it's side a couple meters away from them. "GARRUS!" Jane shouted into her comm before looking at what had caused it.
The sight before them made everyone, sans Wrex and Flynn, pale.
Towering over them at almost forty feet was the armored, serpentine form of a Thresher Maw.
The large beast gave a deep hissing as it looked down at them, rearing its head back and let out a bellowing roar that echoed out far and wide throughout the barren land of Edolus. "FALL BACK!" the Commander screamed as the team ran back toward the downed Grizzlys for cover.
The Thresher Maw saw them running, opening its mouth and letting loose a glob of it's acid that splashed against a rock they had just run past. Reducing the hardened stone to a puddle in seconds.
"Don't let the acid hit you!" Wrex called out, firing his shotgun as they got behind the destroyed Alliance transports.
The slayer raised his heavy cannon and let loose a salvo of .50cal rounds. The compartments on either side of the barrel opening and letting loose a barrage pod-rockets straight into the Thresher Maw's face.
Seeing the initial attacks not working, he looked down the precision sights and fired three shots into the tongue and tentacles near its mouth. The response instantaneous as the maw screeched in pain before lifting is head up and disappeared back under the surface putting the team on high alert.
"Where did it go?" asked Tali with fear in her voice.
The ground shook under them as the creature moved under their feet. Jane got on her comm again, "Garrus? Garrus can you hear me? Respond."
A groan came over the line a moment later, "What the hell happened?" asked the Turian.
"There's a Thresher Maw out here, it flipped the Mako. Can you move?" asked the Commander as the ground shook more.
"Think I broke my arm when the rover flipped...wait, did you say Thresher Maw?" he asked horrified. The ground shook again, harder this time making the team stumble a little bit.
"Yes, and the thing is right underneath us. We need to regroup and think of a plan. Get out of the Mako, you're not safe in there with this thing's acid." said Shepard. "Joker, are you reading me? We have a bit of a situation down here."
"I've noticed. I'm already on approach to pick you guys up. ETA 12 minutes."said the pilot.
"We could be dead before then." said Ashley, peering over the Grizzly and seeing Garrus stumbled out of the overturned Mako and make his way over to them cradling an arm to his chest. The ground shuddered violently before the Maw burst from the surface with a roar just outside where the team was standing.
"MOVE GARRUS!" Jane shouted as she and the others fired at the creature. The small rounds did almost nothing to the hardened exoskeleton of the Maw, but it caused enough of a distraction for Garrus to move into cover out of it's range.
The creature spat acid at the team, the highly corrosive substance burned through the armor of the Grizzly they were behind as though it were paper. "We need a plan before that thing takes us all out!" Kaidan yelled, throwing up a barrier to absorb another volley of acid.
The whole team kept firing on the Maw, throwing grenades, biotic attacks, and just about everything else in their arsenal as they could at the beast. "We're not causing enough damage!" Garrus shouted, throwing another grenade with his good arm.
Flynn switched to his ballista and began firing the powerful red beams into the creature's center of mass. The precision plasma shots blowing away chunks of the Thresher Maw's exoskeleton and burning into the soft flesh underneath, making weak points for the rest of the team to exploit.
Beside him, Liara pulled the gas tanks off of one of the Grizzlies with her biotics and hurled them at the Maw. Ashley re-aimed her rifle and shot the tanks as they got close enough causing them to explode. The Maw reared back and screeched in pain before burrowing back into the ground again.
A tense silence filled the crater as the team kept their weapons ready and senses on high alert. The ground continued to shake as the massive creature burrowed beneath their feet.
"I haven't felt this excited since the day of my rite." Wrex commented with a sadistic grin.
"Are you kidding me, Wrex?!" Ashley hissed in anger and tension. "That thing can kill us at any moment! I don't think you've noticed, but most of us can't survive being melted or eaten alive!"
The ground shook again, this time right below them.
"IT'S UNDER US!" Tali screamed.
"SCATTER!" Jane bellowed as the team ran in different directions, seconds later the maw burst from the surface with another powerful roar and sent a couple members of the team flying.
Flynn was one of them and rolled to his feet when he landed, switching to his combat shotgun mid-roll and fired several sticky bombs along the maw's body. Tali had landed next to him, scrambling to pick up her own shotgun and get back to her feet when the large worm swung its head around and hissed down at them.
The slayer could see the coming danger and an idea formed quickly. The Thresher Maw reared its head back and lunged, intending to swallow the duo whole.
Smirking beneath his helmet, Flynn shoved Tali out of the way. His strength sending the young Quarian flying several meters out of danger just as the maw's open mouth slammed into the ground. Both itself and the slayer disappearing below the surface.
"FLYNN!" Several people shouted at once when they saw their comrade eaten alive.
Liara fell to her knees, tears gathering in her eyes when no sign of the slayer could be seen. "...Goddess Athame...no…" she whispered, not wanting to believe it.
Shepard grit her teeth, anger welling up in her chest at seeing yet another comrade dying infront of her, unable to do anything to stop it. The others looked equally enraged, even after only knowing the man for a short time.
The ground started shaking again and the team prepared to end the monster that took out one of their own. Wrex roared a battlecry when the maw appeared...only to pause when instead of attacking them, the creature started flailing about. Screeching to the heavens in what appeared to be agony with large globs of green blood spraying from its mouth.
"What the hell's wrong with that thing?!" Kaidan shouted over the noise.
After a few seconds of screaming, the maw collapsed to the ground like a felled tree. Dust kicking up from the impact and making the team stagger. Silence followed as they tried to make sense of what happened.
"Anyone else hear that." Garrus suddenly said, catching everyone's attention. The Turian tilted his head to the side, focusing. "Listen."
The others did the same. "I hear it too, what is that?" said Ashley.
Jane took a step toward the dead Thresher Maw, "It sounds like a small motor running." she said when the sound got clearer. "But what could-"
A saw blade suddenly burst from inside the maw. The teeth chewed through the large creature's flesh and carved a path downward, spilling a small ocean of blood and guts out onto the ground. Flynn stepped through the opening, armor drenched in the monster's entrails with a chainsaw revving in his hands.
No one said a thing as they looked at the bloody slayer with different forms of shock and awe. The moment broke when Wrex burst out laughing.
"HA! I knew shit would get more interesting with him around!" the Krogan exclaimed, walking up to Flynn and clapping him hard on the shoulder. The move not budging the slayer at all. "That was one for the books. You'd be getting a few rounds on Tuchanka for that show."
Flynn smirked behind his visor, wiping blood from the surface as they joined the others.
Shepard hadn't moved from her spot, her green eyes locked on the man for all intents and purposes should be dead and had literally cut his way out of a Thresher Maw.
"Shepard." Jane turned to her left and saw the others in a similar state, Ashley being the one that had spoken.
"Yeah, Ash?" she asked back.
The Gunnery Chief looked at her with an expression she had never seen on her face. One of nervousness, anxiety and a little bit of fear. "What is he?" she asked, almost afraid of the answer.
The Commander looked back toward the slayer, having been wondering that question herself.
"I don't know. But I'm glad he's on our side."
X
Back aboard the Normandy, Flynn was back in his little corner of the cargo hold after showering and hosing off the Praetor suit. A luxury he didn't use that often back on his fortress, but had to because Shepard didn't want him walking around her ship reeking of blood and guts.
Something he had become nose-blind too long ago.
His little stunt with the Thresher Maw had spread across the ship like wildfire. The crew looking at him like he was either a ghost or a messiah of some kind. Chakwas had swept in and all but ordered him to the medbay for another check up. But by the end she was completely at a loss when she found zero damage from him being swallowed whole.
After another lengthy stay in the good doctor's presence, the slayer went on his way to get cleaned.
Standing by his usual sitting spot, Flynn had his chainsaw sitting on top of the crate as he cleaned it with a few rags and an old toothbrush. Making sure all of the blood and bits of flesh didn't mess up the chain or motor.
He also checked how much gas he had in the tank and found he only had three-quarters left. That was an issue he would have to address at some point.
Back at the fortress, he had managed to upgrade his energy based weapons to replenish their ammo stores over time. This would allow him to carry more ammo for his ballistic weapons. Though it would take the BFG significantly longer considering how much energy it used.
But the chainsaw was a problem. Even though black powered based weapons were antique in this universe, there were still people and businesses out there who could make the rounds for the right price. However, fossil fuels hadn't been used since the discovery of mass acceleration and the use of element zero.
Though he still had his Crucible, but he hadn't used it since killing the Icon of Sin and hoped it still had juice after breaking the blade off in the titan's head.
Another thing added to the list of things he needed to look into when he got to the Citadel.
"Ex-Excuse me? Flynn?" The slayer paused in his work and looked over his shoulder to see Tali standing a couple feet away. Rubbing her hands together nervously.
Turning to fully face her, he waited patiently for her to speak again. "I...I just wanted to say thank you for what you did. I don't think...no, I know I wouldn't have survived what you had been through if you hadn' pushed me out of the way."
Flynn nodded and signed; It's no problem, Tali. The Quarian engineer took a moment or two to decipher what he had 'said' and looked surprised.
"Not a...You were eaten alive!" she exclaimed in disbelief at his nonchalant view what had happened.
Wasn't the first time. The slayer signed as he went back to cleaning his chainsaw. Tali was rooted to her spot, unable to form words at how he dismissed the whole thing like it was an everyday thing.
After gathering herself, she took a better look at the weapon he has used to cut his way out of the Thresher Maw. "I haven't seen a weapon like that before." she stated as she stepped a little closer. "It doesn't look like it run's on eezo."
Because it doesn't. Signed Flynn. It's called a chainsaw. A tool we humans used to cut down trees for construction. It runs on gasoline, fossil fuel.
The Quarian was surprised again, then looked excited. "This runs on old fossil fuel?!" she was right next to the crate looking the weapon over with careful eyes, "I've heard about how engines used to run on such energy sources, but I never imagined I would see one in person. Let alone one that still functions." she rambled like a little kid.
Pausing at the sudden change in her demeanor, Flynn smiled as he answered what he could about how the chainsaw's motor worked and how it burned off the fuel during each use. Tali scanned it with her omni-tool and created a hologram schematic of it.
"You know, with the right applications, this can be upgraded to run on eezo like most engines used today." she said as she went over the scans.
Really? The slayer asked interested.
"Definitely. You just need the right parts and someone who knows what they're doing." replied the Quarian.
Flynn thought about it a moment then signed; Up for the challenge?
Tali froze and looked up at him with wide, glowing eyes. "R-Really? You'd trust me with something like that?"
Of course. You've got the knowhow and the skills. I think I can trust you to give me a hand with this. The slayer signed, meaning his words.
"I'd...I'd be happy to help!" the young engineer said, excited about the possibility of such a project when she wasn't helping the Normandy crew with the drive core.
Flynn nodded, I'll get the parts when we get to the Citadel. Just tell me what you need. Tali began listing off what she would need and jotted them down on an empty datapad.
While they talked, they failed to see Shepard standing by the elevator watching them. A small smile graced her lips before she stepped back onto the elevator, deciding to question the slayer some other time.
Instead she decided to check on Garrus and see how his arm was healing up. They had a little more time to kill before they reached the Citadel.
A/N: When I'm on a roll, I keep on rolling. A little interaction among the crew, and a fight with a big bad that ended in a style befitting the slayer.
With Thanksgiving just over a day away I thought I would crank out one more update before enjoying the holidays with my family like everyone else. After that I'll be right back to it again. So until then, Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Stay safe and healthy out there!