Flynn hated Noveria.
It took all of five minutes for him to come to such a conclusion. Not because of the freezing temperatures or the blandness of Port Hanshan, but because of the stuck up, privileged assholes that strutted around with an aura of smug superiority that made him want to shoot them in the face.
After docking and the minor issue with port security, the fireteam had gone through customs where they met with Gianna Parasini who informed them that Benezia had passed through days prior and had gone up to the Peak-15 facility farther up the mountains.
The news was better than good, given Saren's right hand was so close. Liara was even more invested given that it was her mother and she vowed to get answers for everything that had been happening.
From his spot leaning against a wall outside the office of Administrator Anoleis, the slayer's eyes watched the various people walking by. Some of them sending disgruntled looks toward him and his waiting partner.
"What a bunch of pansies." Wrex rumbled from his spot on Flynn's right. The Commander believed it was best for her, Liara and Garrus to talk with the administrator while the two powerhouses of their team 'stood guard' by the door.
Translation; keep the two most battle-crazy members of the group from breaking the administrator's scrawny neck.
The slayer grunted with the Krogan's assessment as another group of businessmen and women walked by sneering at them. Flynn raised his free hand and flipped them off, Wrex chuckled as the group looked offended and went to confront them.
The racking of two shotguns made them think better of it and left instead.
"You two keeping out of trouble?" Jane asked as she, Liara and Garrus left the office.
"No one's died yet, if that's what you mean." said Wrex. "How'd things go in there?"
"Anoleis isn't helping us. Gave us the usual bureaucratic garbage and said no one's allowed to Peak-15." said Garrus. "But his assistant told us that there was someone that could help move things along."
The team began to make their way through the district while the Commander talked about the man that was said to help them. A Turian by the name of Lorik Qui'in. Flynn had tuned out most of the conversation, already knowing where things were heading and contemplating how to move things along a little quicker.
Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Out of sight of the crowds, he saw Sargeant Sterling leading a group of Port Hanshan security heading in the same direction. Narrowing his eyes, the slayer slipped away from the ground team and followed at a distance.
Reaching the elevator that would take them to the bar Parasini had told them about, Jane paused when she saw that they were short one. "Where's Flynn?"
Everyone else looked around, but couldn't find the demon-killer anywhere.
X
The elevator that led to Synthetic Insights opened allowing the last three of Sterling's group onboard. "Can't believe we're doing this." one of them muttered.
"Hey, we're getting paid to collect evidence. What the Sarge does with it is her business." said another as the doors began to close-
A large armored hand suddenly stopped them. The doors reopened and the guards looked up at the huge man in armor standing in the threshold.
"Sorry, sir. This lift is off limits for-" the guard who spoke was grabbed by the face and dragged onto the elevator. As it ascended, several people could hear bone chilling screams following with it.
When the doors opened again, Flynn stepped out. Leaving the broken bodies of the guards behind him as he entered the lobby. Two more guards, a human woman and a turian, saw his approach and raised weapons. "Halt! This is a restricted area! You need to-" The slayer grabbed them each by the back of the neck and slammed their heads together. Knocking them out cold and dropping them to the floor.
Going up the stairs to the upper level, he found a dozen other guards methodically tearing through the offices with Sterling not too far away barking orders.
One of the guards noticed his arrival and called out to the others who then drew their weapons. "Well, well. If it isn't the 'Human spectre's' attack dog." Sterling sneered as she stepped in front of her team. "Coming here was a mistake. And I'm going to make you pay for the embarrassment back at the docking bay."
Flynn kept walking toward them, her bravado about as effective as any of the rounds that would soon be heading his way.
Sterling saw this and began to glow blue, her biotics charging while she prepared to give the order to open fire. But before she could, the slayer's equipment launcher activated. Aiming in her direction and fired a projectile shrouded in white mist.
The ice-bomb hit the corrupt cop in the chest and detonated, the freezing gases covering her form in seconds. Her men stumbled back when the vapors cleared to reveal Sterling completely frozen solid where she stood. Flynn's heavy bootsteps closed in, reaching out and flicking the ice-covered woman in the forehead…
Where she then shattered into hundreds of pieces.
All the other guards scrambled away as their superior broke apart like glass and scattered across the floor. Some of them were still holding their guns ready while the rest looked to be considering fleeing.
One of the crooked cops raised his shotgun, but the slayer had already anticipated the action and grabbed the barrel. Yanking it upward just as it fired before driving his Doom Blade through his neck.
The death of one of their own had caused the others to split. Less than half the group dropped their weapons and fled while the rest went on the attack. Bullets bouncing off Flynn's armor as he dropped the dead body to the floor and charged into their ranks.
Grabbing one man by the faceplate of his helmet, he slammed him into a stone pillar with enough force to cause cracks to appear on the other side. The remaining guards kept firing, whether out of sense of duty for their fallen comrades, or desperation brought about by fear no one knew.
Either way, it would be their last mistake as the slayer turned to them and cracked his knuckles.
X
Jane and the others had just stepped off the elevator in the Synthetic Insights lobby when several people in armor ran past them like the devil was on their heels.
"The hell was that about?" Wrex grunted as the terrified group piled into the elevator they had just gotten off.
The sound of gunfire above them halted anything that could have been said, the ground team prepared weapons as they ran up the steps to the next floor. Just as a security guard flew over their heads and dropped to the ground below.
"Oh my." Liara said as they looked at the broken, and in a few cases dismembered, Port Hanshan guards that were scattered about. A few of them groaning in agony while the rest were very much dead.
In the center of the carnage was Flynn who looked in the direction of the team. Jane took one more look around before pinching the bridge of her nose. "...okay. How and why?" she asked in exasperation.
The slayer shrugged, Got bored. Saw a group of guards led by that bitch from the docking bay and saw them tearing the place apart. He signed.
"They were most likely on the Administrator's payroll." said Garrus. "Lorik Qui'in has evidence here against him, they were probably sent to destroy it."
"I don't see that Sargeant here though." said Liara. Flynn pointed to a pile of shattered ice that was starting to melt and everyone understood immediately.
Wrex chuckled, "She was a frosty bitch. Guess now she fits the part."
The Commander sighed, "Garrus, Wrex, go get the information Qui'in sent us to get. The Krogan and Turian nodded and set out to collect the evidence they were tasked with collecting. Leaving her, Liara and Flynn alone.
"Flynn, look, as much as I'm glad you helped out in your own way. I'd prefer if you didn't start a war with Noveria security." said Jane.
Wasn't much of a 'war'. Didn't even use my guns. It was more like a one sided ass-beating. Signed the slayer. Besides they were crooked cops. Willing to kill for blood money. I did good folks around here a favor.
"Regardless. Stick with the squad from here on out. Please?" The Commander asked.
Flynn rolled his eyes and nodded just as Garrus and Wrex rejoined them. They took the elevator back down to the main floor and were greeted by Parasini.
"There have been reports of gunfire coming from the Synthetic Insights office. Would any of you know anything about that?" she asked directly.
"Probably Anoleis' thugs ripping the place apart." Jane said back, causing the other woman to raise an eyebrow.
"Smartass, hmm? I can work with that. Meet me at the hotel bar before you talk with Qui'in. I'll be waiting." she left without another word.
"Wonder what all that was about?" wondered Garrus.
The Commander shrugged, "One way to find out."
X
The team met with Parasini and discovered she was an Internal Affairs agent working a case on the administrator. After Jane convinced Lorik to testify against Anoleis and getting the Turian's garage pass, they got front row seats to the corrupt Salarian's arrest before continuing their mission.
Entering the garage, Flynn paused and allowed his senses to extend outward. "Flynn? What is it?" asked Liara, stopping beside him.
His response was pulling out his combat shotgun and firing to the left. A Geth Hunter suddenly decloaked and was thrown back with its chassis blown open.
"Contact!" Jane shouted as a Geth Stalker jumped about taking shots at them. A Destroyed and a few Shock Troopers joining them as the team got into cover and returned fire.
Flynn slammed the sticky-grenade mod on his shotgun and lobbed a few explosives in the direction of the attacking synthetics. The explosions taking out a Shock Trooper and dropping the Destroyer's shields, giving Garrus the chance to blow out its optic with his sniper rifle.
Liara managed to grab the Stalker with her biotics and throw it against a wall while Jane and Wrex finished off the remaining troopers.
Captain Matsuto and a small squad of guards had just as the ground team finished the Geth. "What the hell are you doing?!" the Captain demanded.
"We're the victims!" Jane fired back while venting her rifle. "The Geth attacked us!"
Matsuto didn't look convinced, "You expect me to believe that there are Geth-" The body of the Geth Hunter was thrown at her feet, the optic still flickering making her stumble back. Flynn came up and stomped on the head, taking it offline completely and looked at the Captain as if daring her to deny the obvious.
"H-How is this possible?" she stuttered, "We perform extensive scans on all shipping crates that pass through here."
"The Geth are machines, Captain. They can deactivate and reactivate to avoid your scans." said Liara.
"How many containers did Benezia bring through here?" asked the Commander.
Matsuto thought it over for a moment. "She had two average sized shipping containers brought through with a security escort. 20' by 10' each."
"With how tightly packed those Geth units can get, there could be a small army waiting for us." said Garrus.
"Not including if there's anything laying in wait on the way." added Wrex.
"Then we better get up to Peak-15 and shut down whatever is happening." said Jane.
The security Captain shook her head, "I need to inform the executive board. If word gets out about loose Geth, there will be an investor panic." she and her squad quickly filed out of the garage leaving the ground team.
"Come on crew. We got a mission to complete and a Matriarch to find." said the Commander as they approached a nearby APC that could take them farther up the mountain.
Liara hesitated at the back a moment, taking a deep breath before stepping forward only to be stopped by a large hand gently holding her shoulder. She looked up into Flynn's visor, their gazes meeting.
You going to be okay? He signed.
The Asari Maiden nodded, "Yes. I need to do this. My mother has much to answer for and I need to know the truth."
The slayer nodded as they joined the others to see Garrus and Shepard speaking. "It's not looking good. Wrex said it himself, there could be Geth waiting along the path for anyone trying to reach the facility. And this thing doesn't have any defences save for kinetic barriers." the C-Sec detective stated while motioning to their ride which, unlike their mako, didn't have any guns mounted on it.
"Guess the folks around here didn't take into account deadly robots invading." said Jane as she thought it over. "We don't have a lot of options. We're going to have to risk it."
Flynn looked the vehicle over in contemplation before an idea came to him and he grinned.
X
The doors to the garage opened and the APC roared into the blizzard outside. The six heavy tires cutting through the deep snow as it began its ascent into the mountains.
"You realize this is a crazy idea, right?" Shepard said while behind the wheel.
"Shepard, I'm pretty sure Flynn redefined crazy long before our great-grandparents were born." Garrus commented from the seat beside her. Wrex merely chuckled from the back while Liara kept looking upward with worry, even though she really didn't need to.
On the roof, the slayer crouched with his ballista in hand. Right foot and left knee firmly planted as the Commander drove them toward their objective. His eyes scanning through the falling show for any sign of movement. The blistering-cold winds not hindering him in the slightest with his finger hovering over the trigger.
The APC rounded a corner in on the snow covered road when several pulse rounds came flying their way. "Contact! 2 o'clock!" Garrus shouted over comms. With a steep drop on their left and an icy rock wall on their right there wasn't much room to avoid the coming assault.
Flynn quickly took aim and fired. Twin beams of red energy lanced through the air and hit a Geth sniper that had been stationed on a small cliff above. The slayer fired several more times, taking out two destroyers as well before they turned another corner.
A couple lights ahead marked a bridge where a pair of Armatures swung their heads in the direction of the coming squad. Flynn charged his ballista and fired an arc-blast into one of the larger platforms, the following explosion knocked out its barriers and caused it to stagger, allowing him to finish it off with a shot through the optic. He quickly used the same tactic on the other Armature leaving the path clear for the moment.
Crossing the bridge, the APC encountered a blockade where several Geth units consisting of shock and rocket troopers were laying in wait. The slayer switched to his rocket launcher and fired several missiles that blew the blockade apart and sent flaming synthetic body parts in different directions.
"Peak-15 is coming up. I think that was the last of the defences." said Jane as they pulled up outside the facility. A pair of turrets mounted on the outer wall came online and took aim, but were quickly destroyed by a rocket each courtesy of the APC's 'slayer-turret'.
The hatch on the side of the vehicle opened and the team piled out, Flynn stored his launcher and jumped down from his perch. "How was the ride?" asked Wrex.
The slayer raised his hand and tilted it back and forth.
"Just glad your idea worked and we all got out of it in one piece." said the Commander, she and the others wearing helmets with their suits sealed to maintain body heat. "Let's get inside."
"I got the door." Garrus reported, using his omni-tool to hack the door. "The facility's on lockdown, probably from the storm." The lock on the door switched to green before it opened, the team quickly entering the garage/storage area before it closed and sealed behind them.
They barely made it a few steps before a handful of Geth platforms and drones made themselves known along with a pair of Krogan that opened fire on them.
Jane, Garrus and Liara took cover and returned fire while Flynn and Wrex charged head on. The slayer and Krogan mercenary crushing the Geth trooper's in their path, the former using the meat-hook of his super-shotgun to yank a trooper down from a railing over head and blowing it apart when it got within range and the latter firing a carnage shot into a Juggernaut and overloading its shields before slamming it into a crate with his full weight.
Flynn jumped into the air, kicking on his boot-thrusters to gain more height as he came down slamming his fist into one of the enemy Krogan's head plates hard enough to split their skull. The second Krogan attempted to get a lock on him, but Wrex swatted his weapon aside, bashed the side of their head with his shotgun before jamming the barrel under their chin and blowing the top of their skull off.
The two warriors looked to one another and nodded before joining the others as they finished off the remaining Geth.
"User Alert! All Peak-15 facilities have suffered a great deal of damage! Biohazard materials present throughout the facility! Virtual Intelligence user interface offline!" The PA system broadcasted once the fighting had stopped.
"Biohazard materials?" Liara questioned.
"Everyone keep your helmets on. We don't want to risk possible exposure if something in here got loose." Shepard ordered. "We'll have to get the facilities reactors and VI back online if we want to find out what's been happening around here."
The team made their way up a flight of stairs to the level above them, entering a corridor where a pair of automated turrets were set up. Only the defense wasn't aiming their way, but the direction they were going.
"Why would they set up defenses the wrong way?" wondered Garrus.
"Maybe they were hoping to keep something from escaping, instead of keeping people out." Wrex added his two-cents.
While the squad entered the security station nearby, Flynn stayed and looked at the turrets. A scratching noise above had him looking up at the vent covering in the ceiling. His eyes narrowing and fists clenching when he sensed something there before it quickly retreated.
"Flynn? You coming?" The slayer sent one last glare at the vent before catching up with the others. His blood beginning to heat up with the knowledge of another fight coming.
A/N: It has been too long since my last post, but with how crazy life can be at times it couldn't be helped I'm afraid. Regardless, I am back, and with the release of Ancient Gods Part 2 not a moment too soon.
I'm in the process of getting my groove back, so sorry for the short chapter. But the next one will be worth the wait. The slayer will have some exterminating to do at Peak-15, and the encounter with Benezia will be interesting to say the least. So don't go too far readers!