Incoming violence, beware!
Carmine was in agony, the burning he felt from the device was something he'd never experienced before. He groaned as he sat up. His body was still tingling, and not in the good way.
He was shrouded in darkness, "Uuuugh, Baird...what the hell was that?" Carmine groaned as he opened his eyes.
The alcohol in his blood was doing very little to aid his situation. He instinctively felt for his guns, sighing in relief as he found them right where he left them, "Jesus Christ, where the hell am I?" He asks himself.
As Carmine retrieved his lancer from his back he thanked himself internally for grabbing his weapons before he left the bar. He stood up tall, groaning from the pain his muscles were in, "Not even a day since the war ended and we're back in the shit, huh Clay?" He scolds himself for ignoring Baird and touching the cube.
Clayton looks down and sees that same cube is split into four symmetrical pieces, "You.."
Carmine reached down and grabbed a hold of the pieces one by one, "Better hold onto you. Man, Baird is going to be pissed." Clayton sighs as he stuffs the pieces in his pocket.
As he takes a deep breath he gets struck by very strong smells. His breath halts in his throat for a moment as the mix of smells invade his nostrils. It was nothing he couldn't handle, being in the hollows had changed him after all. He simply thought it had made him more experienced.
His ears prick up as he hears the chatter of people, or what seemed to be people, coming from the opening to the alleyway he was in. He recognizes bits of English but also something different, 'Huh? Never heard that kind of language before. It almost sounds like some kind of alien. To be fair we never did well with foreign languages.' Carmine thought with a small chuckle.
He catches a hint of booze, what he could only imagine to be food, and unfortunately the people he believed he was hearing. They smelled terrible, but not worse than a corpse, which was good enough for Clay. Carmine walked forward, his lancer tucked to his midsection. He hopes to get some answers to where he was.
Carmine stumbled as he reached the mouth of the alley, having to put his hand on the metal wall for support. His lancer hung in his right hand at his side. The large gear shook his helmeted head a few times in an effort to shake the alcohol's hold on him, "Come on man, we're better than this. We've had to kill grubs way more fucked up than this. Get your shit together and move Carmine." He orders himself.
Carmine didn't realize he was thinking out loud, a small smirk on his face as his drunkenness makes itself apparent to him again. He shakes out his arms and legs, trying to regain his cognitive function. When he deemed himself ready he stepped out of the alley and into the barely lit area.
There were crates and vehicles scattered about, "Is that a car?" Carmine blinks hard and shakes his head as he walks closer to it, inspecting the tireless vehicle further.
Carmine pauses, a familiar growling and gnashing of teeth playing at his eardrums. Sounds he was all too familiar with. It was extremely similar to the locust, but something was a little off.
This sounded different, more like a set language than anything. Clay shakes off his train of thought, the grubs did have their own language after all. Carmine scans the area and notices a door with an orange hologram looking thing in the middle. The hologram began spinning.
Carmine was quick to raise his weapon, deducing the sounds were indeed coming from the door, "I knew you fucking grubs weren't gone. Come to papa." Clayton growled, a smirk on his face.
His anticipation to destroy more grubs rising the longer it took for the door to open. The alcohol in his blood ran wild as Clayton's anger was coming to its boiling point, "Tick Tock, don't keep hell waiting grubs." Carmine mutters, his face showing nothing but pure excitement. The sadistic gleam in his eyes was hidden by his helmet.
When the door opened Clayton was shocked to see that it wasn't locust making those sounds like he'd hoped.
Carmine POV:
"What the fuck is that?" I ask to no one.
I'm looking at some kind of grub, it has a locust's skin but red eyes. There are spines sticking out of its skin, and sharp teeth in its mouth. The damn things are so long it can't even close its mouth. There's a whole group of these fucking things. Whatever they are, these aren't the locust.
They must not see me because they're filing into the room as if I'm not half of the light in here. They're much smaller than me by the looks of them, even that big toad in the back is shorter. They're carrying what looks like toy guns.
Well shit, if they're armed I might actually have a little fun here. They look dangerous, not that I should be judging a book by its cover here but I'm going to say fuck it. I grin under my helmet as one of these new grubs wanders closer to me. Seems like it finally notices me, looking up to me as it starts screaming out all sorts of gibberish.
"Well shit." I mutter as what I can only assume is a he, calls his grub pals over to me.
I chuckle as they pointed their guns at me. Before they had a chance to fire I grabbed the little grub in front of me, "Heh, this'll be fun." I mutter.
I wrap my hand around his throat, damn if all these grubs are this squishy I'll be done in no time. My fingers tear into its throat as I lift him to meet my helmeted eyes, "Bad move grub." My angered voice spills from behind my helmet covered lips.
I watch his eyes as he spits up blood onto my forearm, the life slowly draining from him. That's enough of that, time for the real fun. I snap the grub's neck and let his body crash to the floor, my right hand is soaked in blood, "Who's Next!" I yell out to the rest.
My right hand finds its way back to my lancer and I draw it quickly, releasing a hail of bullets into the first grub I see. My bullets shreds his left arm off and he screams, falling to the ground clutching at his bloody stump. The rest come out of their shock at the sounds of their friend's fearful cries and start firing at me.
A few rounds hit my chest armor. One grazes my right arm above my tattoo. I snag some cover behind one of the large crates and blind fire into the crowd of grubs. I hit a few of them by the sound of it.
My blood runs hot as more are obviously yelling out in pain. I peek out and notice there are only a few grubs left standing. A sickly smile is stapled onto my face as the adrenaline hits my system. It mixes with the plentiful amount of booze running through my blood.
This hangover is going to be nuts if I don't get some food in me. I feel slightly woozy, all the blood that leaked out of me seems to finally be catching up.
That's besides the point. The sounds of these grubs screaming is driving me crazy. I need more pain, more blood. I feel the trickle from my graze trail down over my tattoo, "You grubs are starting to piss me off." I say through clenched teeth.
I vault my cover and run toward the first grub I see. I start up my lancer's chainsaw as he raises his hands to shield himself. The saw cuts through his hands and into his shoulder, blood sprays from his wounds onto my helmet, neck, and all over the front of my chest plate. The blade whir through his chest down to his hip and he spills open onto the ground, "OH YEAH, THATS WHAT I LIVE FOR!" My battle cry rattles the remaining grub's bones.
The grubs were panicking, stumbling over one another. Their shots were wild and inaccurate, some did manage to land a few shots on my armor but that did very little to stop me.
They're just too weak. I approached the dis-armed grub on the floor, still screaming and clutching his nub. Maybe I'll help him out. I pop my lancer on my back and grab a hold of the grub's neck with my left hand. I raise him to meet my gaze. My right hand grabs a hold of his remaining arm, it's almost too easy to rip it from his body.
"Doesn't feel so good does it grub." I drop him to the floor. He looks up to me with what I can only assume are tears flowing from its crimson eyes as it writhes in pain. As I get my lancer back in my hands, I let out a deep menacing laugh, he never had a chance. These fucking monsters never learn...
I raise my foot up and give him a healthy taste of my boot, completely smashing his head. His blood coats my boot as well as the floor under me. I feel a few shots hit my back and turn, releasing short bursts of bullets into another three grubs. The lead easily tears holes in their chests.
I see the big toad grub barking at the remaining grubs, "Seems you're the one to beat" I mutter.
My blood is on fire, the hate I have seeping into me is almost too much, they need to feel what I feel. I grab some cover behind the car with no wheels as they fire at me, "Shit I wish I had a grenade. It's less personal, but I do love to watch limbs fly." I grin and remember I have a weapon that'll give me the satisfaction I'm looking for.
I replace my lancer with my gnasher and rack a shell as an unsuspecting grub wanders too close to my cover, I pop out and fire from the hip.
"Holy fuck!" I can barely believe it.
Half of the grub in front of me is missing, all that's left is a pair of legs that wobble and crumble to the ground. My smile grows wider as I charge the last few grubs and blow them into meaty bits, "Clean up, Aisle 5!"
I turn to what I assume is their leader, the larger toad looking grub. He points at me and tosses his weapon, "Oh you want to fight grub? Bring it ON!"
I slip my gnasher on my back as he charges me. I meet him halfway and we smash together, he's over two heads shorter than me, and by the feel of it much weaker.
I push him back a few steps as we grapple, he clinches me and throws a few punches that connect with my helmet. I feel the stitches Sam put in tense and pull, testing Sam's stitch work. I shoot a knee into his face making him lose balance. I take the opportunity to spring forward and wrap my arms around his waist. God this asshole is heavy.
I get him in the air and slam him to the ground, "No No, We Aren't Done Yet!" I yell out as I notice his movement.
He tries crawling away but I grab a hold of him and flip him to face me, "Beatdown Time!"
I stand over him, cock back, and slam my right fist into his ugly face. Then I repeat with my left, and my right, and so on. I hear him begging, or what I can only assume is begging. It doesn't take long for his face to break, I feel it in every punch. A snap here, a crack there, I know it's savage what I'm doing. Eh, grubs deserve savage deaths. His left eye is bulging from its socket, the rest of his face is swollen and bloody.
I'm breathing heavy, but I'm not tired, I'm angry, "You took my friends. My family! I have nothing... and I'm going to take everything away from you cocksucking. Sadistic! Fucking! Animals!" Each word I spoke was emphasized with punch after punch. My voice and my punches echo throughout the blood soaked room.
No.
I blink hard and the toad isn't there. I'm not in that strange room anymore. I know where I am. The walls are lined in darkness, and sharp rocks litter the underground tunnel. Imulsion bubbles from a lake beside me. The Hollows...
I look down and there lays a broken and battered drone "You don't get off that easy pal!" I bark in the grub's face as he makes a pointless attempt to reach up at me.
I continue my assault, smashing the drone's already mashed in face. I can feel the hooks in my back, each wound burning and bleeding.
"FUCKING GRUB!" My accurate punches grow wild as my blood boils over and spills onto the rocky ground.
My breath is ragged and heavy, the drone is beaten, bloody, and brutalized.
Blood coats the front of my armor and gauntleted hands. I blink hard once more and shake my head a few times. I can barely believe as the drone slowly fades back into the toad grub, and the cold, damp tunnel of the hollows brighten into the storage room.
I let out hearty chuckle "I'm a fucking mess. It's happening again."
The toad is gurgling as he spits up blood and teeth, his mangled face now speaking slowly. Poor fucker is probably praying to whatever god he's about to meet. The toad's shaky breath strains as he makes one final attempt to move away.
"Oh don't worry, I didn't forget about you. Say hi to my brothers for me." My voice rumbles in my throat and comes out as a growl.
I raise my right hand one last time and bring it down on his head, smashing it into the floor, "One hell of a splatter, that one is for the record books." I joke.
I take a few steps away to admire the carnage and inspect the damage. Limbs, torsos, internal organs, and a seemingly endless amount of blood coats the room, "You never disappoint ol' girl." I pull out my lancer and give the chainsaw a quick pat. There are no survivors, just how I like it.
I hear voices and raise my lancer to the source. I spot another door as it begins to open at the other end of the room. They sound human, but wherever the fuck I am humans might not even be a thing.
I can say positively I'm not on Azura anymore. I pull the clip out of my lancer and check it, "Huh, only half empty. These grubs aren't only easy to kill, they're ammo efficient." I let out a light chuckle and pop the clip back into my lancer. Pointing it back at the spinning hologram.
I really hope it's more grubs, but a part of me also hopes it's someone I can actually speak with. I have to find out where I am one way or another.
Normal POV:
The doors at the other end of the small warehouse opens up, and in steps three humans. Two women and a man. The first woman is quite beautiful. Her black hair hangs loosely over her shoulders and she is dressed in rather tight black and white clothing. Clay notices they're marked with a hexagonal pattern.
The second woman is more battle ready. Carmine takes note of the N7 logo above her breastplate. She is wearing a set of jet black armor adorned with red on the arms, along with white accents.
Carmine's eyes roam to her face, 'Holy hand grenade she's gorgeous!' Carmine thought. His interest in her spiked as he found her eyes. They were almost being covered by her short red hair. Her pair of icy blue eyes look back at him and she can't see all of him, just the lights of his armor and helmet. The woman shrugs and passes it off as the room's lighting. She has a fire in her eyes, reminding him of someone he knows very well.
The black man standing just behind them is wearing a similarly colored jumpsuit to the first woman but in a more practical material. He's got a rather neatly buzzed haircut and a trimmed beard. He notices the man's face wrinkle up at the smell of exposed entrails. Clay's eyes wander over the rest of them and he draws the same conclusion.
The look on their faces are nothing short of horror and disgust.
Carmine stays in the darkness, lancer still gripped in his hands but not aimed at them anymore. He stands still, waiting, and watching. The black haired woman speaks with a British accent, "Shepard, this can't be Garrus's doing can it?"
"No, he's always been quick and clean. This is something entirely different Miranda. Both of you keep your eyes peeled. Whatever did this could still be around." The pretty red head replies, and her teammates nod at her.
'Shit, well at least I can understand them. Fuck it, let's see where this goes.' Carmine nods at his thoughts and takes a few steps forward. Shepard and her team hear heavy footsteps coming toward them. Carmine keeps walking until he knew they could see him.
"That's far enough. Are you the one that did this?" They watched him carefully, pointing their weapons at him. The three eye up his massive frame as he grips his strange looking, blood stained rifle tighter. The red head notes that there's a slight sway in his idle form. Yet he wasn't pointing his gun back at them.
"You're damn right I did, I killed these grubs. That toad grub back there and his friends pointed their weapons at me so I returned the favor." Carmine juts his left thumb to show the brutalized krogan behind him, his right hand never leaving his lancer's grip.
Shepard was shocked not only at the sheer size of the being in front of her, but also his ability to hold his own against and entire platoon of Blood Pack mercenaries. Let alone beating a krogan in hand to hand combat.
She eyed him up, his massive build was hard not to notice. He had tattoos with helmets and names on his right arm, and bullet belt across his left bicep. He was covered in blood, his hands and his gun's chainsaw bayonet were drenched in it. His armor was bulky and looked heavy, with the words Grub Killer written on the front. The way he carried himself was if he was wearing nothing. Even slightly hunched he was much taller than her and her companions.
'He could be a valuable ally against the collectors. If he's not some bloodthirsty monster.' Shepard shook off her thought.
"If what you're saying is true would you consider coming with us? We could use an extra gun, especially an experienced one." She says to him.
"Shepard I don't like this, not one bit, look at this carnage. I don't know if we should trust this guy." Jacob said looking toward Shepard and Miranda.
"I agree with Jacob, he could jeopardize the mission. We don't know him or his intentions." Miranda spoke in a hushed voice, unbeknownst to them Carmine could hear them. They discussed him quietly, but not quiet enough.
'Seems they're scared of me. To be fair I'd be scared of me too.' Carmine thought, his eyes wandering around the room. He kept his ears open for any incoming hostile.
"Why hasn't he killed us yet then? If he was going to do it, by the looks of this room, he wouldn't have spent time talking to us. We'd be another red smear along the floor the moment we pointed our weapons at him. Exactly like what he said about the mercs." Shepard said with annoyance evident in her voice.
It bothered Shepard greatly, looking at the discarded gore spread along the storage room. However she couldn't deny the usefulness that this mystery man could bring, whatever he was, 'He looks human, and has been civil with us so far. He could prove to be a powerful ally. I'll have to see him in combat to judge properly though.' Shepard was mulling over what to do about him.
"Commander this is ridiculous, we need to find Garrus." Miranda blurt out, growing rather impatient.
"What's ridiculous is talking about a man like he's not there when he's in front of you." Carmine shot back not moving his head from where it was. The gear had his head pointed away, still scanning the room.
The three of them snapped their heads over to Carmine. He slowly turns his head back to them and gave a little wave with his left hand, smirking under his helmet.
'How could he have heard us?' Shepard thought as she more skeptically eyed Carmine.
"Would you be interested in helping us?" Shepard asked calmly. Deciding to take a chance with the armored behemoth.
Carmine let out a sigh, it's not like he was doing anything else, 'When a gear asks for help and you can help, you have to help.' He growled low to himself, he never was one to deny another soldier some assistance.
"Alright sure, but let's get one thing straight. If any of you decide to cross me, I won't hesitate to cut you down like these grubs. I don't care if you're women or men, you wrong me and you'll be lucky to die screaming." The gear threatens.
Carmine's lancer hung in his right hand under his hip as he straightened out so they could get a full view of him. Shepard holstered her weapon and motioning for the others to do the same. They were a bit in awe of the giant armored man.
"Good thing I don't plan on crossing you. Let's move to a less gore filled area for proper introductions." Shepard wrinkled her nose as the smell of the fresh corpses wafted to her. Carmine shrugged and followed them through the door he saw the mercenaries come through. The three smaller people keep a keen eye on the gear.
Now in the next room, Shepard set about officially introducing herself and her squad, "I'm Commander Jane Shepard of the Normandy. To my left is special Cerberus operative Miranda Lawson, and to my right Jacob Taylor another fellow Cerberus operative and residing quartermaster on my ship."
'Woah now. Did she just say ship? I didn't think I'd be close to water. This place seems real urban.' Clayton thinks.
Carmine wanders over and looks out one of the windows in the room they were in. The bright lights of the bustling city and layers of futuristic architecture made him sweat a bit, "You mean like a water ship right?" Carmine asks as he turned back to them. The first thing he noticed was their looks of confusion. His stomach sank.
'Think Carmine think! Fuck! Baird had mumbled something about dimensions and transportation. Double Fuck! That damn cube, it must have sent us to a different dimension or something. I mean that's a long shot especially for us, but it's the only reason that makes sense. Who are we kidding nothing here has made any sense.' His inner voice echoes through his skull, a million thoughts going through his brain.
"Have you even seen a ship before?" Jacob asked which Carmine replied with a nod.
"I've been at sea for a few months before and I've seen plenty of naval ships." He says deadly serious.
"At sea? I'm talking about space travel? Have you ever seen a space ship before." Jacob replies with a confused tone.
Carmine shakes his head no. And the three smaller people all share a look of doubt, "Now how is that even possible? There's no way he could get here unless he lived here his whole life, or he flew here on a ship." Miranda says, clearly not buying it.
"Look we're running out of time and need to get back to Garrus. I know we all have a ton of questions. But for now can I get answers for two?" Shepard asks as she focuses back on the large man. He nods to her.
"Are you human? And what's your name?" Shepard spoke fast. She carefully eyed Carmine up and down while he wiped his blood stained hands off on his pants.
Carmine tilted his helmeted head to side like a confused puppy, "Of course I'm human. I'm sorry if I seem spaced out, its not on purpose. I'm just a little confused is all. It's nice to meet you commander. I'm Clayton Carmine or Clay for short, you can call me Carmine though." Carmine extended a now relatively clean hand to her and she accepted.
His gauntlet covered hand engulfs her armored one fully, "Wow, is everyone around here as small as you three?" Carmine asks with a small chuckle.
"I think you just might be really big Carmine. You can call me Shepard." She chuckles along with him.
"Alright you're familiar taking orders Carmine?" She asks as they let their hands go.
"More than familiar Shepard." She shot him a smile that made his blood pump a little faster.
"Perfect. As I said before we have more questions for you once we get back to the ship, until then let's get moving." Shepard kept her smile as she faced away from him.
'Seems this won't be too bad after all, at least I might get some more answers. Fuck what kind of place did I get sent to that has space ships? What are we getting ourselves into?' Carmine thought with a small shake of his head. The four of them readied their weapons and went to meet with Garrus.
As they walked Shepard noticed Carmine was a decent bit behind them. He confused her in so many ways, but for now she focused herself on studying how he fights, 'If he proves useful then maybe I offer him a spot on the ship. Even though he doesn't know anything about them, and hasn't even seen one before. It may be nice having a giant wall of muscle on the team again.'
Carmine was walking a bit slower than the rest, his heavy footsteps could be heard even from how far back he was. He just couldn't believe anything he was seeing as they passed by much more advanced structures than he'd ever seen, 'Gotta be on our best behavior Clay, don't want to make the pretty little red head mad. That woman is our ticket to an explanation of all this crazy shit.' His inner voice says.
"Keep with the pace Carmine we're on a time crunch." Shepard ordered as she looked back at him, he quickly shook off his thoughts and caught up with the group.
"Everything alright Carmine?" Shepard found her way to the back of formation with Carmine.
"Eh, I'll be fine to fight if that's what you're worried about. Other than that I'm just kind of going with the flow Shepard." She smirked, and he found himself staring at her. She was looking up at him, blue eyes trained on the lenses of his helmet. She was trying to read his emotion through a piece of solid metal, glass, and blue light. To no avail.
"Good, and don't worry Carmine, once we're done here we'll discuss your situation. I promise." She smiled sweetly at him, Carmine's mind was running wild and he stopped himself from talking.
'Don't want to overstep ourselves here Clay, just keep your trap shut and nod at the pretty lady. When we sober up and can fully control what comes out of this mouth we'll be golden.' Carmine nodded his helmeted head.
Shepard took her place back at the front. As they got closer to Garrus he got in contact with Shepard, "Shepard where are you? The mercs are swarming me again."
Gunshots could be heard from the transmission, "We'll be there soon Garrus hold tight. Alright everyone, double time!"
Shepard POV:
I get out my avenger as Miranda and Jacob ready their weapons as well. I look back to Carmine and see he's ready. Let's hope this wasn't a mistake.
Carmine is gripping his weapon tight, the muscles in his arms are flexing as his digits wrap around the grips tighter. Thick veins jut out on his biceps and go along the lengths of his arms, disappearing into both bits of his armor. Jesus he's massive, I wonder if the rest of him is that big.
'Dammit Shepard keep your eyes up...'
I look forward as I feel heat on my cheeks. I look back slightly and the blue lights of that helmet's eyes are boring into me, as if he knows I'm thinking about him. Or maybe he's thinking about me?
I shake my head slightly and break the staring contest between us as we approach the checkpoint to get back into Garrus's district, "Everyone set?"
They all nod. Carmine's anticipation is now visible as he bounces lightly, he seems very eager to fight. We move through a few sets of doors and corridors, and into the next district.
We book it to where Garrus is and find a group of vorcha and three krogan guarding the back door that leads to the stairs. It's extremely easy access to where Garrus is.
I see a larger krogan mutter something to the other two and walk through the door. They spot us and we take cover, "Shepard I think that was Garm, one of the leaders of the Blood Pack. We have to get in there or Garrus won't last long." Miranda says to me.
"I know Miranda, the Blood Pack has the door locked down pretty tight. Miranda, you and Jacob take the left and try to flank them. I'll try and draw their fire to the middle here. Carmine you- Carmine? Carmine!" I yell out as I look to my right and he's not there. He's already charging at them.
Great, already known him for less than an hour and he's going to get himself killed. I can't let the idiot die though, and raise my avenger to offer suppressing fire.
"Carmine! What are you doing?!" I scream at him.
My words fall on deaf ears as Carmine begins shooting. "Come on. Die for papa!" His voice booms out, and his bullets shred a few vorcha to ribbons. It's as if their kinetic barriers aren't even there. Their bullets aren't even denting his armor, nor is he even slightly affected by the shots. Not a buckle in his advance.
Carmine mows down a few more before he gets the attention of the krogan. As they close in on him the vorcha focus their fire on me. I'm forced back into cover, "Carmine get out of there!" Once again my voice isn't heard by the man.
I see him take a few more rounds to his chest armor, even getting some grazes on his arms but was unaffected. A normal soldier wouldn't be able to nonchalantly take gunfire like that. But it seems Carmine isn't some rank and file soldier. His weapons cause so much carnage, but I'm not afraid of them.
I'm more scared of the man that wields them. Just what are you Clayton Carmine?
Normal POV:
Carmine simply ignores Shepard, 'Cute of her to think I'm the one who's in trouble.' He thinks with a sadistic gleam in his eyes.
As the pair of krogan close in on Carmine a vorcha jumps on his back and claws at his helmet making three deep marks on the armor on the mouth of his helmet, "Don't fuck with the helmet grublet!" He yells in annoyance.
Carmine grabs a hold of the vorcha, throwing it over his shoulder onto the ground and stomps on its leg. It releases a pitiful wail of pain as the bone came popping out of its pant leg. Carmine picks his foot up and brings it back down hard on its chest. The heavy boot nearly collapses its chest cavity. The vorcha spat blood up uncontrollably and tried to crawl away, "Where do you think you're going?"
Shepard, Jacob, and Miranda watched in horror as the vorcha was crippled by Carmine, "Jesus, what is he doing?" Shepard whispered before a stray round clipped her cover. The two krogan turned their sights on the her for a moment, but stopped firing.
A sickening tearing sound could be heard for miles as Carmine was tearing open the vorcha's mouth. One large hand wrapped around the top half of its head, his other hand was half jammed in its mouth. It's screams were muffled as Carmine ripped the vorcha open from its mouth down to its chest cavity. The blood sprayed onto his hands, arms, just about fucking everywhere.
Shepard uses the ceasefire to her advantage and pops out of cover to shoot at the horrified vorcha, dropping a few with precise headshots.
"Seems like that internal damage is external now, huh grub!" Carmine laughs as he drops the mangled vorcha, its chest contents are open for all to see.
The krogan turn their attention back to the gear and began shooting at Carmine again. He felt the bullets hitting his armor and turns to them. Red coated his front, the claw marks and cracked lens on his helmet only added to his wild presence.
He stands up straight and charges them much to their surprise. Carmine releases a swarm of bullets into the first krogan's legs, effectively crippling him. Unfortunately for the second krogan, Carmine's clip finally ran dry and the sounds of his chainsaw replaces the gunfire.
Shepard found her way into cover closer to Carmine and began trying to rip him from his rampage as she spots the cleared path to the back door, "Carmine we don't have time for this, you got us a path to the door! Miranda and Jacob can handle the rest come on!"
But once again Carmine ignored her. He swings his whirring chainsaw bayonet down at the krogan, who tries to defend himself by swinging his shotgun at the enraged gear. The lancer easily cuts through it like it was cheap plastic. The krogan tried then using his hands to cover himself but Carmine just sawed them off, "Anything else you wanna put in front of my saw grub?!" He asks mockingly.
The krogan dropped to his knees, bleeding heavily from his hand stumps.
"Devil." He croaks out as he falls forward and passes out.
"Well, best not to leave a job half done." Carmine says cheerfully as he raises his boot and curb stomps the unconscious krogan. His brain matter splatters all over his pants as well as the armor on his right leg.
"Speaking of leaving a job half done, come on back here grub!" Carmine's voice booms out as he set his sights on the remaining crippled krogan who was currently nudging himself farther away.
A torrent of blood spewed from the damage done to his legs, and a trail streaked across the ground. Clay took no time getting to him and plunged his lancer into the krogan's gut, "Now here's the fun part!" Carmine laughs as he revs the saw to life and begins mulching the krogan's stomach.
The krogan tries rather hopelessly to remove the saw with his hands. The battle-hardened lancer only ripped his fingers to bits. Blood and meat chunks splashed onto Carmine's weapon and armor. By the time he was done sawing, the krogan was long dead.
Shepard was left in awe, too shocked to move and get him, and visibly mortified of the actions she witnessed. It was perhaps the most gruesome and merciless thing she'd ever seen.
Miranda and Jacob went over to the Shepard, Jacob broke her out of the shock she was in with a hand on her shoulder armor, "Hold the area until we secure Garrus, I'll take Carmine." Shepard says as she nods a thank you to Jacob.
"Be safe commander, that guy is brutal. I doubt we could get to you before he, well, you know." Jacob motioned to Carmine.
Shepard nodded and replied, "Noted Jacob. You two keep yourselves safe too. Can't be losing any friends on this trip." Jacob smiles while Miranda rolls her eyes.
Shepard started toward Carmine, noticing the viscera that was splayed all over the place. Shepard knew merc reinforcements would be incoming. She wasn't a stranger to gore, but this was on a whole other level.
Miranda and Jacob could hold the reinforcements until they made sure Garrus was safe. For now she needed Carmine's help. His brutality was nothing she nor her companions had ever seen before. The way he effortlessly dismantled the enemy was horrific to say the least. But it was beyond effective.
"Carmine?" Shepard notices Clayton is standing still, his lancer is stuck in the krogan's exposed entrails. His right hand squeezes the handle of the brutal rifle.
"You think you get to walk away from me." He mutters darkly, a slight slur to his speech.
Shepard felt her bones rattle, that voice, so menacing and deep. She reached a hand out to him but quickly shot it back to herself as he wrenched his gun free easily and turned to her, "Oh hey Shepard. Seems like we're clear here huh? Are your friends going to be alright holding the rest of those grub reinforcements?"
Carmine spoke to her as if nothing had even happened, not a beat skipped. She opens her mouth to chew him out but found no words as her mind is perplexed by him yet again, 'How good is his hearing?'
Then she noticed just how warm the area seems to have gotten. But it wasn't the room, it was Carmine. He was hot, physically hot. She could feel the heat coming from him, and saw steam rising from his exposed muscles. It was almost as if his rage was surrounding him. It brought even more questions to her head, but she closes her mind to them. She has a job to do.
She closed her mouth, curled her hand into a fist, and jabbed him in the arm, "Don't go running off like that Carmine." He let out a deep hearty chuckle, and she was pouting slightly. Her glare didn't go unnoticed by the veteran gear.
She brushed him off and headed toward the doors, "Come on, let's go help Garrus." She says plainly.
If Carmine was going to be a part of her team he'd have to learn to follow orders. She would be a liar if she said it wasn't impressive the amount of carnage Carmine was able to dish out.
But for now Shepard was solely focused on getting through that back door to help Garrus. Carmine let out a sigh and gripped his lancer tight. He caught up with her and jogged along side her to the locked door, "Ah shit I guess I lost myself back there huh? I'm sorry Shepard." The gear tries to calm the sour look on her face.
"Don't be sorry Carmine. We'll have time to discuss that later, we gotta get this door open." She says, her omni-tool open as she tries and fails to hack open the door.
"Ah, please allow me." Clayton steps forward and cracks his knuckles loudly.
Shepard quirked her eyebrow as Carmine stood in front of the door. She was going to say she can keep trying to hack it and open it remotely, but wanted to see him try. With a smirk on her face she watches him. She becomes flabbergasted as Carmine easily wedges his hands into the door and forces it open, "Holy shit Carmine! How strong are you?" She exclaims, her jaw hitting the floor.
"Pretty strong." The gear replies with a light chuckle.
Shepard laughs a bit along with him, "You know I could've just opened it normally, right?"
Carmine shrugs and takes a step to the side, gesturing with his hand for her to go through the door, "Ah where's the fun in that? Ladies first." He replies, his voice dipping a bit in his semi-intoxicated state.
A small blush found its way to her face as she made her way through "Quite the gentleman." The low rumble of his laugh echoed behind her as she led them. Shepard found herself smiling at the sound.
The two hastily make their way up the stairs and find Garrus pinned down by Garm and over a handful of vorcha.
They get into cover as the vorcha began opening fire on them, "Keep them back, the Turian is mine!" Garm barked out orders.
Carmine was itching to get at them and Shepard could see it, she appreciated that he was holding back. She let out a sigh, "Let em' have it Carmine." His helmeted head perked up to meet her eyes, his excitement practically shining through the lenses of his helmet.
Shepard laughed, "Hah, you know for someone who wears a helmet you're very expressive."
Carmine chuckled, "Not the first time a beautiful woman said something like that to me."
It was Shepard's turn to snap her head to meet his lenses, a small blush formed on her face.
"Would now be a good time to mention I'm pretty hammered right now? Ah fuck it." He says drunkenly with a shrug of his massive shoulders.
Shepard's eyes widened, "You're what!?"
But Carmine had already leaped over the cover they were behind, mentally scolding himself for his rambling, 'Jesus man, beautiful? Really? Even if it's true, it is also kind of weird to say to a woman we've just met.'
The first vorcha was completely taken aback as the massive gear charges him. Carmine revs up his lancer and smashes it into the vorcha's stomach, lifting it and tossing it over his shoulder. The gear snickers as the vorcha's entrails spill onto the floor where it landed, "Oh I hate to cut and run, but I gotta go!" The gear yells out ecstatically.
The remaining mercs began to fire at Carmine making him take cover. Shepard snapped out of her shock and pulled out her sniper rifle. Carmine raises out of cover but just before he can squeeze the trigger the vorcha's head snaps to the side, a nasty exit wound marring the left side of its head.
"Hey! Quit poaching grubs!" Carmine yelled to a very smug looking Shepard.
Carmine grumbles as bullets flew by him, he rolls his eyes and lazily grabs the dead vorcha to use it as a meat shield, "Only good meat shield is a dead one I guess." He says with a shrug while hoisting the vorcha up in front of him.
He swaps his lancer for his boltok, and with surprising speed and begins swiftly popping skulls one after another. His meat shield was nearly useless, the vorcha's body is far too small to cover him as he felt gunfire hitting the bits of armor on his legs. Shepard uses Carmine's distraction to her advantage, gunning down a few more unsuspecting vorcha. They were effectively whittling down their numbers.
Carmine threw the torn up corpse at its former companions and makes the last two vorcha stumble backwards. Carmine blasts a basketball sized hole into the chest of the first one he saw, "Holy shit you grubs are weak, hah!" He laughs as the vorcha falls to his knees.
Clayton sets his sights on the other, who got the gun knocked from its hands easily. The vorcha swings his fist toward Carmine, which unfortunately for him was caught. The gear crushes its hand in his much larger one and jams the barrel of his revolver in its mouth when the vorcha went to scream in pain.
"Oh just shut up!" Carmine pulls the trigger effectively removing the top half of the vorcha's head. He looked down to his side where the kneeling vorcha was and replace his boltok with his gnasher.
"Us gears call this playing T-Ball." Carmine took hold of the shotgun like it was a bat and winds up, smashing the vorcha's head into paste. All that was left in the room was Garm. Who was busy trying to kill Garrus, too busy to notice Carmine standing behind him.
Shepard stood up and saw the carnage left behind by Carmine, "Holy shit, he's a one man wrecking crew." Then she noticed where he was.
Shepard POV:
Wait is he going to fight Garm!? Garm isn't a normal krogan he's a notoriously brutal leader of the Blood Pack.
"Carmine!" I yell out to him.
He ignores me and Garm turns to see what I'm yelling about only to be met with the butt of Carmine's shotgun. Garm recovers quick and went right into grappling with Carmine, managing to knock his gun from the burly man's hands.
I aimed my sniper at Garm but before I could shoot Carmine yelled out, "This one's mine Shepard!"
I lowered my gun. Is he insane?! Trying to take a krogan of Garm's standing on in hand to hand combat is suicide.
I see them break their grapple and Carmine's helmet gets smashed with a huge haymaker from Garm. Shit, no human could survive something like that.
"Not possible.." I mutter.
Carmine eats the punch like it was nothing and returns with an even more devastating punch to Garm's stomach, dropping him to his knees. Carmine is like no soldier, person, alien, or anything I've ever seen before. His combat skills are outstanding, but this takes the cake.
A few Blue Suns mercenaries make their way through a different enterance on the floor beneath us with a loud bang from a breaching charge. I'm forced to look away from the fight to make sure Garrus doesn't get flanked.
I aim my sniper rifle and shoot down the mercs one by one. If Garrus wasn't so busy I bet he'd be a bit jealous of my aim. I manage to look back in time to see Carmine mounting Garm. The big man was throwing punch after punch into the krogan's face. The beating is brutal and I feel the need to step in.
"Carmine stop! He's done, let him go!" I order as I jog my way over to him.
Surprisingly enough Carmine did stop, but only for a second to grab his shotgun and put it on his back. He grabs a hold of the krogan's chest armor and drags him to a nearby window.
"Carmine? What are you-" I don't get to finish as the burly man hoists the krogan up and through a window.
I flinch as I hear the thud of what I can correctly assume is what's left of Garm splatting on the streets below. With a sigh I signal Miranda and Jacob to come meet up with us. I suppose either way, Garrus is saved.
I walk over to my old friend and he greets me, "Ah Shepard nice of you to make yourself known. Was getting worried for second there." He wipes a fake bead of sweat off his forehead and I roll my eyes playfully at him.
"What, not confident in your ability to wage a one man war anymore Garrus?" I joke.
Garrus looks at me with a mocking shock expression, "Of course I'm confident in my skills, just getting a bit winded in my old age."
We share a laugh as I shake his hand, "Good to see you're alright Garrus." Jacob and Miranda catch back up to us and greet Garrus.
"No it's good to see you alive Shepard. Even if you're working with Cerberus, I know you're not one of them. Still the same old Shep-" Garrus stood still, his mouth open but no words coming out.
I follow his eyes and turn around to see Carmine is aiming that large revolver he has at Garrus. I sprint to him and grab at his hand, "Carmine stand down, what the hell are you doing!?"
I notice Miranda, Jacob, and now Garrus have all aimed their weapons at Carmine. He looks down to me, I'm using all my strength to try and lower his arm and it's not budging, "Fuck, fine, jeeze. Tell them to lower their toys while you're at it." Carmine complies and lowers his gun. I motion the rest to lower their weapons.
I'm glaring up at him. He's almost an entire 2 feet taller than me by the looks of it, but I hold my ground, "What the hell were you trying to do Carmine?" My hand is still attached to his forearm, he's all muscle by the feel of his arm. Holy shit...
'No, control yourself Shepard.' I internally scold myself.
He answer with a confused tone, "I was trying to kill that grub over there." Carmine nudges his revolver forward to point in Garrus's direction for a second before it falls back to his side.
"Uhh did he just say he was going to kill me?" Garrus asks, the lack of vibration in his voice let me know he swapped over to English.
"Holy shit, that grub can speak our language!?" Carmine yelled out and took a step back.
I looked at him still angry but bewildered, "Do you not have an Omni-tool?"
"Omni-huh?" He answers while scratching the side of his helmet with the barrel of his revolver.
"I'll take that as a no." I let go of him and pull up my Omni-tool, showing it to him.
"It helps with numerous things like hacking, disruption, translation, navigation, all sorts of stuff. Grubs by your standards, usually speak in their native tongue. So it's an almost invaluable tool in the field." I explain to him.
"Oh...that would make sense why I can't understand a damn thing those assholes were saying to me." Carmine holsters his revolver and scratches the back of his helmet.
If I wasn't so furious with him right now I would've thought it was cute, "I'm really sorry Shepard just, where I'm from the grubs that look like Garrus aren't the friendliest. But if you trust him I have no reason not to." I let out a relieved sigh as Carmine cracks his knuckles and rolls his shoulder.
"You keep saying grub when talking about different species. Is that what you call the aliens where you're from?" Carmine scratches his helmet again and I stifle a giggle.
"Yes and no. The grubs weren't aliens I don't think. Honestly my only experience with a different species involved over a decade long war. It's complicated." I looked over to my companions, their expressions were similar to mine, bewilderment.
"How old are you Carmine?" I ask.
He shrugs, "Not 30, I know that for a fact."
He walks past me and over to Garrus, "I'm Carmine, sorry for almost shooting you in the head a few minutes ago. I know how it feels to get clipped in the head, both with the helmet and without."
He extended his blood soaked hand to Garrus, "Ah it's fine, nothing recent events haven't already gotten me used to. Like you said, if Shepard trusts you, I have no reason not to." They shake hands, Garrus grimacing slightly. I smile and walk over to them.
"That's a strong grip you got Carmine." Garrus said shaking his a hand a bit.
We share a laugh, 'Good to know his sense of humor isn't gone.' I think.
"You do trust him, right Shepard?" Garrus says to me as I stand next to Carmine.
"Enough that I trust he won't kill you now." I shoot the turian a smile.
"Good enough for me." He shoots me a wink back.
Normal POV:
Miranda, Jacob, Shepard, Carmine, and now Garrus discuss how they'll be getting out of the building.
"I've been putting such a hurtin' on the mercenary groups that they've made a truce to hunt and kill me. Unfortunately for them, most of their leaders are dead. All that's left on planet are the Blue Suns, and Tarak isn't going to let us waltz out of here." Shepard shook her head.
"You sent our location to them didn't you Garrus." She grabs the bridge of her nose.
"Well I knew you were coming, and I figure it would be easy to finish them here and now. Especially with your team here." He says while motioning to the others.
Shepard was glaring at him, "You sure this is what you want to do?"
"Yes Shepard." Garrus replied instantly, causing Shepard to let out an exaggerated sigh.
"What kind of commander would I be to let you do it alone." A small smirk tugged at the corner of her lips.
"Shepard we've got grubs incoming." Carmine spoke up, retrieving his lancer from his back. He was standing by a monitor with surveillance footage displayed on it.
"I knew those would come in handy." Garrus said with a smirk.
"Alright Jacob, take Carmine and secure the lobby. Meet us back here when you're done." Shepard motioned to Carmine while reloading her weapons.
"Sounds good Shepard. Come on Carmine let's get going." Jacob motioned to another set of stairs at the opposite end of the room.
"Oh hell yeah, more grubs to kill." Carmine says joyfully while he reloaded his lancer and trailed behind Jacob.
Miranda spoke up, "Do you think Jacob will be alright.?"
Shepard looked to her and smirked, "If you're worried about Jacob don't be, Carmine is more than capable from what I've seen."
"That's not what I meant." Before they could continue, an armored gunship raised to their level and Blue Suns began repelling down the sides of the building.
"Shit! Everyone get down!"
Carmine POV:
Jacob inched closer to the lobby, "What are we waiting for?" I say rather impatiently.
I heard gunfire coming from upstairs, "They're hitting high and low, we have to take out this squad now."
Jacob nods in agreement and looks down as Shepard came over his Omni-tool, "Jacob, they're assaulting the building. Take out the Blue Suns in the lobby and get back here asap. Garrus got hit pretty bad."
'Fuck this I'm not letting them die. I owe that ugly ass Kantus looking grub that much for trying to kill him and all that.' I think and push past Jacob. I hear him try to call me back but I ignore him.
I take cover in the lobby, I start blind firing at the squad of grubs, blue suns is what they called them I think. Doesn't matter, they're dying regardless.
I peak out of cover and spot them scrambling for cover, seems like I missed. There is a new kind of grub with 4 eyes, some looking like Garrus, a few humans, and blue women with tentacles for hair. I hear fighting coming from behind, I guess Jacob has his hands full. Ha, now it's a party.
A man get cocky and comes up next to my cover to point his toy at me. I quickly rip the gun from his hands and smash him in the face with an elbow. I grab him and spin him around using him as a meat shield, "Do you come in men's sizes!" I yell out with a grin on my face.
I pull my boltok up and get a good look at the squad, none of them want to shoot their comrade, "Aww what's the matter, camera shy?" The taunt doesn't provoke any of them to shoot and I sigh.
I pull the trigger on one of the Kantus lookin grubs, his head explodes, showering his friends and my meat shield in blue blood.
"Holy Hell! It's raining blue blood, Ha!" My voice booms through the lobby. They're afraid now. I can practically smell the fear.
They learn quick that they're going to have to shoot through their friend to get me, too bad it won't help them. I drop a few more, their brains getting to feel what its like to be outside for once. My meat shield was losing some weight, "Come on you ugly motherfuckers!"
I drop the man and raise my boltok at the ugly 4 eyed grub. I smile wide and pull the trigger.
Click*
'Never forget to reload Carmine. Damned alcohol is fucking us up. Making you careless.' The voice in my head scolds me.
I groan, "Oh that's not good."
Four eyes looks at me and laughs. It's only him, a blue tentacle-hair lady, and a man. I scoff, 'More like kid.'
Doesn't matter though, they're all grubs in my eyes. They open fire on me and I can feel their shots hitting my arms and chest. I raise my arms protectively in front of my helmet. Now they're pissing me off.
I pick up a spare toy off the ground and throw it at the man. I put some real heat on it and the gun hits its mark dead on. The gun smashes into the kid's face breaking his nose and probably a cheekbone if that crack sounds as good as I think it does.
I snag my lancer from my back as I roll to my left and open fire on the blue woman, popping her head open like a watermelon with only a couple rounds.
"Hah! Another blue fountain." I joke as the stump of her head squirts a few spurts of sapphire liquid before the rest of her crumples to the ground.
I bum rush four eyes and he swings his gun at me. I catch it and rip it from his hands, slipping my lancer on my back as I snap the toy-like gun in half. I front kick four eyes into the wall leaving a large dent and walk over to the kid. I discard the pieces of gun haphazardly.
Blood and tears are streaking down his face, "Please, please no. I have a family, I just needed the money man please!"
He begged over and over and I made my way to him, "Please I have a family!"
"I don't.." The young man's eyes widen and I raise my boot and curb stomp his head into mush in one clean motion.
I make my way to four eyes and grab him by the throat. Raising him to meet my helmeted eyes. He's pinned to the wall, "I'm going to watch the life drain from your fucking eyes grub." I drunkenly slur to the alien.
I hear Jacob walk back into the lobby, "Carmine you ok in here...holy shit." I hear his voice dip in tone. Well, cant make everbody happy.
Normal POV:
After fighting through a few rank a file mercs trying to make their way upstairs Jacob made his way to the lobby, and what he saw was nothing short of a bloodbath. Bodies were strewn about, missing limbs and blood coated the room.
What surprised Jacob even more than the fact that he knew Carmine had done this, was that Carmine was choking the leader of the squad to death. Jacob watched as Carmine drained the life from the Batarian pinned to the wall. His muscular right arm is able to easily lift the Batarian with ease, "Look at me GRUB!" Carmine boomed out making Jacob take a step back instinctively.
Carmine's fingers ripped into the leader's throat and Jacob watched with a queazy stomach as blood came squirting out onto Carmine's hand and arm. Once he died Carmine discarded the corpse, dropping it to the ground as if it were nothing more than a piece of trash. He turned to face Jacob and noticed the shell shocked look on the smaller man's face.
"Hey you alright there Jacob?" He says as he pulls his lancer out and checks the magazine.
Jacob snapped out of his trance and replied, "What? Oh yeah I'm good." He looked as if he was going to hurl.
"What's the matter? Do you guys not kill grubs like this?" Carmine asked while slipping rounds into his boltok.
Jacob shook his head. The carnage that Carmine was able to bring was the worst Jacob had ever seen in his life. He mentally noted to never piss off the giant man.
"If you're all set here Carmine we should head back and help Shepard." Jacob says while reloading his avenger.
"Yeah I'm good, let's get going." Carmine says with a nod.
The two headed back to the area Shepard, Garrus, and Miranda were holding out in. Carmine and Jacob took cover with Shepard as the armored helicopter blasted the cover they were behind, "Having fun without us Shepard?" Jacob asked a smirk plastered on his face.
"Can it Jacob. Garrus is badly wounded. Miranda is tending to him to best she can but we need the chopper down now!" The commander barks out as she pops out to fire a few shots.
While Shepard barked her order Carmine was replacing his lancer with his torque bow and began priming the arrow. As the blades slowly fold down Carmine counts to three, and managed to time it perfectly. The guns on the helicopter were cooling off when Carmine popped out of cover aiming the bow at the cockpit, "Carmine get back in cover!" Shepard yelled out.
Carmine took a breath, and as the chopper turret began spinning again he released his breath and his finger from the trigger. The fully charged bow shot whistled through the air and nailed its target dead on.
A huge splatter of blood could be seen on the inside of the cockpit, "Aww no final words?!" He yelled out as the arrow exploded, effectively blowing the gunship out of the sky.
"Holy shit Carmine, great work." Shepard walked up next to the massive gear and pat his left bicep. He looked down to her in slight confusion.
"Sorry, would pat your shoulder if I could reach." Carmine snorted a laugh as he tucked his torque bow onto his lower back.
Shepard and Carmine made their way to Garrus, "Shepard he's not doing well, we need to get him to the Normandy now." Miranda was applying medi-gel to Garrus who was unresponsive.
Shepard hastily pulled up her omni-tool, "Joker contact Dr. Chakwas and tell her to prep for emergency surgery, we're on our way back."
Carmine went over to Garrus and hoisted him onto his shoulder, "I got him Shepard." She smiled seeing Carmine carrying Garrus.
'It's effortless for him, well that's not a surprise really. Look at those arms.' She shook off the rosy tint on her cheeks, not the best time for ogling.
Carmine POV:
Well I'm in space now. The ship is fucking huge. Ben you would've loved this shit.
Shepard brought me to a room with a large orange hologram in the middle, it's only us two in the room. Pretty sure she's waiting to hear more about Garrus's condition. She looks very worried for her friend.
Well the only upside to this whole mess is I've been able to sober up significantly with all this spare time. A few of my wounds are still lightly bleeding but I denied treatment until I heard from Garrus. Seems I owe him that much for trying to blow his Kantus-looking brains out.
The doors open and Miranda along with a Jacob step in and over to Shepard. Miranda can't stop glaring at me, 'Fuck is her problem.' I think with a sneer.
My attention shifts as Jacob started talking, "We've done just about all we can for him Shepard. He took a bad hit, but the docs were able to add some cybernetics to help fix the damaged areas along with surgery. As far as we can tell he'll have full functionality again but-"
As if on cue the doors open and none other than Garrus steps into the room, "Shepard." Honestly I'm pretty shocked a skinny grub like him could take a hit like that.
"Tough son of a bitch. Didn't think he'd be walking around." Shepard seemed relieved that her friend was alright. The four of them bantered for a bit until they turned to look at me. Time to face the music I guess.
Miranda speaks first, "So what are we going to do about you, hmm Clayton?" The smart ass tone she gives me makes my blood boil.
"It's Carmine to you, all of you for that matter. Only my family and close friends have the right to call me by my first name." I jut my pointer finger at them.
I drop my hand and continue, "I don't even know where I am or what you people do. Its about time for some questions and answers."
Normal POV:
Shepard looks to her comrades and they nod in agreement, both not wanting to piss off the giant murder machine in front of them, and wanting an explanation of his arrival. She looks back to the large man.
"Alright Carmine let's start with introductions again shall we? Name and rank." Shepard says as she folds her arms.
"Ok, my name is Clayton. Private Clayton Carmine." The gear answers straightforward.
"Alright Carmine, now where are you from? I doubt you're in the alliance system. What are you?" Shepard asks while gazing once again at his foreign weapons and armor.
Carmine stood silent, 'Fuck, I guess that was going to be asked sooner or later. Well, time to talk like a lunatic.' He lets out a deep sigh.
"What I'm about to tell you is absolutely insane and you have no right to believe me, but here goes. I'm not from your world or dimension or whatever. I'm from a planet called Sera and myself, along with the rest of the people there are indeed human. You have no reason to trust me but I'm telling the truth."Carmine tries to explain.
To say the look on their faces was dumbfounded would not be doing them Justice. Carmine grumbles and continues, "Look, I'm not crazy. I'm just lost. Completely and utterly stranded in a different place."
Shepard looks back to her crew before returning her gaze to Carmine, "That's pretty far fetched Carmine, do you have any proof?"
Carmine's hand went into his pocket and he fished around in it, pulling out the broken cube, "A friend of mine told me not to touch this but I didn't listen to him. When the cube was whole I touched it and I guess it linked itself to me or something. Which ended up with me getting sent here. When I woke up, it was split into these pieces. It was made by a scientist named Adam Fenix."
Shepard walked closer and inspected the broken cube pieces, also noticing blood trickling down Carmine's arms, "It was made to help us escape I think, or at least an attempt at an inter dimensional escape. A last resort."
Shepard looked up to Carmine as he stuffed the pieces back in his pocket, "Why would this Adam Fenix need to create such a portal?" Carmine grew quiet, his body visibly tensing. The rest noticed the change in his demenour immediately.
"You've all heard me use the term grub right?" He asks, tone deepening as his blood ran hot.
They nodded and Carmine let out a sigh, his fists already clenched at his sides.
"Back in my world the only contact I ever had with another species involved beings that came from underground. The locust. They rose up in populated cities all across the world simultaneously and murdered unsuspecting men, women, even children." Carmine paused, the blood leaking from under his helmet dripped down his chin and neck. Shepard watched as his fists squeezed tighter.
"They waged war against humanity, and pushed us to near extinction. They ravaged us, murdered every single person in their path for the first few years. Their queen, Myyrah, claimed that all of my home world Sera belonged to her and the locust. The Coalition of Ordered Governments, or COG, rose to stop them. There were too many, and we drastically underestimated them. That's why he made it. That good enough for you?!,Or you want me to spill my life story?!" Carmine yelled out, his blood almost reaching its boiling point.
Shepard looked to him, and she saw traces of steam rising off of his skin. More importantly she saw a soldier who had fought back when the tides were turned against him. She saw an invaluable ally who woudln't give up when the odds were turned against him.
But most importantly she believed him, "It's alright Carmine, thank you for saying as much as you did. I believe you. I just have two more question. What is that?" Shepard pointed to the COG tag dangling around his neck, the tag thoroughly coated in his own blood.
Carmine began to settle down, "This is a COG tag, it's so people know I'm a soldier of the coalition. A damn good one."
"So you're a gear?" Shepard asks with a smirk.
Carmine stood tall and proud of his service, "Yes ma'am."
He gave them all a salute getting a smile from most of them. Miranda still shot daggers at him though. Shepard finishes chuckling and waves a dismissing hand at him, "Alright alright, at ease big guy. As I said I believe your story. I've just got one more question for you."
"I have an answer." Carmine dropped his salute and focused his helmeted eyes on Shepard's icy blue ones.
"Would you be interested in helping me fight an alien race called the collectors?" She asks, her tone becoming incredibly serious.
'We have no clue what they're about or what they do. Let's pry a little. But honestly Clay. I know you want to get back in the saddle and kill grubs. Especially if those blue eyes come along for the ride.' Carmine was thinking hard about this, and about Shepard. He wanted to stay on the ship to see where it took him, but he wasn't willing to follow Shepard if her intentions were misplaced.
"Shepard before I answer could you tell me a bit more about what you're trying to do? I barely know anything about you, or your pals back there. I trust that you'll be honest with me." Carmine says. Shepard catches the slight hint of intimidation in the end of his sentence.
Shepard wouldn't lie to him, and not just because she realized he would probably be able to sniff it out immediately. So without missing a beat, she kept her gaze on his helmet's eyes, the blue glow of the lights on his armor shining bright, "I was originally an Alliance Marine, but Jacob and Miranda work for a group called Cerberus. I was brought in by them to stop a race of aliens called the Collectors, who have been kidnapping innocent people. I aim to stop them."
Carmine didn't need to hear any more. If they were kidnapping people they needed to die. And Carmine was more than willing to risk his neck for a cause like this.
"Say no more Shepard, I'm in. Fuck. Those. Grubs." He says before she can continue. Shepard smiled up at his helmet and reached her hand out to him.
"Welcome aboard Carmine, first off we'd better those wounds looked at. While you're at the medical bay you can have your routine physical done as well. Just the price of admission to stay on the Normandy. I want to make sure you're 100% healthy. That means getting that cleaned and looked at." Shepard pointed to the trail of blood coming from under his helmet, that soaked into the top of his sleeveless shirt under his armor.
Shepard let out a small laugh as Carmine pawed his neck, "Ah crap, guess those stitches didn't stick. But thanks for having me commander." He shook Shepard's hand with his non-blood covered hand.
"Alright Carmine I'll come check on you in a bit. EDI, can you bring Carmine down to see the good doctor?" Shepard asks out into the room.
Carmine was slightly confused who she was talking to until a blue hologram popped up in front of him startling him slightly, "Of course Commander, right this way Clayton."
"He prefers Carmine EDI." Shepard interjects with a smirk.
"Oh, my apologies Carmine." Carmine's body language said it all.
But he didn't contain his thoughts as well as he wanted, "Holy Shit!"
Shepard looked at him very amused, "Oh and Carmine, I know you don't have a lot of positive experience seeing so many different species but you're probably going to see a lot more of them. When I come find you later I'll get you your own omni-tool so you can at least understand them. Be nice to him EDI."
"Ok, sounds good Shepard. Jesus this place is seriously high tech." Carmine said in awe. Shepard laughed as he sheepishly scratched the back of his helmet. He was intimidating but he had his cute moments.
"Thank you Carmine." EDI responded as Carmine scratched the back of his helmet.
"You're welcome, so are you the ship or-" Their conversation was cut off as Carmine stepped into the hallway, following the little hologram. Shepard looks to Jacob and Miranda. Miranda seems like she is about to pop a blood vessel. Shepard noticed Garrus must had left the room at some point as he was nowhere to be seen. Probably just there to have caught a bit of Carmine's explanation.
Shepard POV:
As I watch Carmine continue his conversation with EDI out of the war room I couldn't help the smirk that rose to my face, 'For such an intimidating guy, he has a strange cuteness to him, not to mention he's ripped. I've seen some big guys before but he's the biggest by far. He talks with respect unless disrespected, and seems eager to bring the fight to the collectors. Two good qualities.'
I walk back over to Jacob and Miranda, "Well now that he's gone, do either of you have anything to say?" I ask.
"It's not that I don't believe his story commander, but, well..." Jacob starts rubbing the back of his head in uncertainty.
Miranda cuts him off as he goes to speak again, "He a freak of nature. A barbaric, psychopathic monster! Not in all my years have I seen the kind of things he does Shepard! The carnage he was able to cause was something I could never dream of in my worst nightmares." I was taken aback at Miranda's outburst but I couldn't blame her.
I too was pretty disturbed by Carmine's actions on Omega. Not in my entire Alliance career have I seen a soldier that can do what Clayton Carmine can do.
"I know the way he fights is... brutal, to say the least. Can you really blame him though? His people were almost pushed to extinction. He's strong, and I need that kind of strength if we're going to take on the collectors."
The thing is, he isn't just strong, Carmine had power, more power than I feel even he knows. He's dangerous and mysterious. I can't help but find myself drawn to him.
Miranda continued during my little brain lapse, "But where do we draw the lines Shepard?! I'm not the only one who saw him tear open that Vorcha, or brutalize those Krogan!"
"We don't know what he went through Miranda, have you ever seen a Locust before?" I snap at her, feeling my patience be tested a bit.
I waited for her to respond, her eyes darting to the floor. Hell, I haven't ever seen one. I've never even heard of the Locust either. I'm sure whatever Carmine went through was horrible just by the state of him. He was bleeding all over himself from multiple wounds he sustained during the battle. The big guy said something about his stitches as well when I noticed the blood trailing from under his helmet. I don't doubt Carmine has seen some terrible things. Who hasn't in our line of work?
"Look Miranda if it makes you feel better I'll go talk to him. See if I can get him to open up about things, and see if he will cooperate with us so he's not just a loose cannon on the battlefield. It'll be just like having a Krogan with us only bigger, and scarier."
"He's certainly no Krogan Shepard. But I'll agree with you, I wouldn't want to fight against him." Miranda began leaving while Jacob saluted me and left as well. I suppose all that's left to do is go and grab one of those omni-tool wristbands and go check up on the big guy.
"Hope you aren't causing too much trouble Carmine." I mutter.
Author's Note:
That's chapter 3 reworked.
If any of you first timers have been taking notice I do yoink a few themes of The Carmine Effect. If you haven't read that story yet I recommend it. It went unfinished but I enjoyed it a lot. The only issue was all the messy grammar, but if you can look past that, great story.
I've been pretty swamped with work and my own issues. Sorry about the slow uploads folks.
Adios