I do not own Gears of War or any of its characters.
Tricked
Joseph groaned as he slowly scraped himself up off the ground. The phosphorus had worked a bit too well. Instead of simply melting the ice, it had exploded and blasted a hole down through it, causing the ice around the hole to also collapse, dropping them all. Fortunately, they'd landed on a sloped section of broken ice, so the descent wasn't fatal, but it was painful. Joseph finished extracting himself from the snow and ice and looked around, only to yelp in surprise and fear, seeing Lizzie buried beneath both snow and their Track Mule. He rushed over to her, pulling off her helmet, but she merely groaned and looked back at their bike before groaning. Its nose was dented and the solar panels cracked, the track in the back had broken free of its wheels, and the front tire was crushed.
"Damnit," Lizzie sighed. "I liked that thing. Mind lifting it off my legs?"
"Del, give me a hand," Joseph said.
Del hurried over, helping him lift the bike up off of Lizzie, and she quickly pulled herself out from under it before pushing herself up, wincing and rubbing her left leg.
"That's gonna leave a bruise," Lizzie sighed. "Still, it's not broken, so there's that."
"You scared me," Joseph smiled. "I thought it crushed you."
"No such luck," Lizzie shrugged. "Looks like you're stuck with me."
"Damn," Joseph snorted. "So close."
He kissed her, and Lizzie smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck for a few seconds before pulling back.
"Where's your helmet?" Lizzie asked.
"Good question," Joseph said.
"Here it is," Kait said, pulling it out of the snow and dumping some out of it before tossing it to him.
He thanked her, brushing some more snow out of it before pulling it on. They followed the impromptu path they'd landed on on the ice, eventually coming to a crack they could squeeze through, and Joseph and Del lifted up what looked like a piece of metal strut out of the way for Kait and Lizzie to pass through, only for Kait to suddenly have what looked like a panic attack partway through. Joseph and Del hurried through after her just as she jabbed a hand forward as though stabbing someone.
"Myrrah!" Kait shouted as she stabbed the air with an imaginary knife. "Get out of my head!"
Joseph and Lizzie exchanged unsure looks behind their helmets as Del moved to check on Kait, only for her to tell him it was nothing.
"Well, good," Del said, allowing her to breeze over her obviously worsening condition, "because we found it. Come on. We just need to figure out how to get inside."
Getting inside proved to be rather annoying, though not exactly difficult. There were four automated defense turrets mounted to the front of the lab's outer wall, but thanks to some cloaking tech they'd gotten for Jack earlier, Kait was able to sneak past the turrets to a pair of generators where Jack used a Shock Trap to shut down the lab's outer defenses as well as open the door. With that out of the way, they headed into the entryway, finding a machine that looked to be made to have an arm inserted into it. Del went first, albeit hesitantly, then shouted in pain suddenly as blood began to filter into a tank of what looked like water attached to the device.
"What happened?" Joseph asked as Del yanked his intact arm out of the machine.
"It stuck me!" Del accused.
"You're this upset?" Kait snorted. "About a pinprick?"
"I have sensitive hands," Del defended himself.
"Proper identification is required for entry," a recorded voice stated. "Your entry has been denied. Good day."
"Uh, what?" Del asked.
"Niles?" Kait asked. "Is that you?"
"Proper identification is required for entry," Niles' voice said again, more irritatedly, this time.
"Proper identification," Kait muttered, holding her mother's necklace.
"Hey, you can give it a shot," Del invited her. "But it's gonna hurt more than you think."
"It's probably rusted, too," Joseph pointed out. "You got tetanus, Del."
"Wha...that's not...Now, why'd you gotta put that thought in my head!?" Del demanded as Kait stuck her arm in the machine.
A moment later, she smirked at Del, unfazed by the pinprick, and the door began to open ahead of them, a machine like a TV on a motorized stand rolling toward them, Niles' face decorating the screen, lit by a green light, this time.
"Entry granted," Niles said. "Welcome home."
"Welcome home?" Del asked, Kait shrugging.
"If you would, follow me," Niles invited them, turning and rolling away.
They followed Niles down a short hallway, only to reach a room where several cryo jets were firing off every few seconds, filling the majority of the room with frigid air and the fluid used to power them, making it impossible to pass. Niles acted surprised by it, and asked them to shut them off, and Del took Jack to shut them down, then returned as the room was drained of cryo fluid. As it drained, however, they all stopped, staring at dozens of frozen Gears armed with Mark One Lancers and Gnashers and looking to have been frozen in the middle of a battle, as well as several scientists who looked to have been fleeing.
"Niles...really looking forward to you explaining this," Kait said as they began to pass through the frozen Gears, all giving the creepy ice sculptures a wide birth.
"Oh, nothing but the remains of an old industrial accident," Niles lied.
"Accident nothing," Joseph whispered over the private comms line to Lizzie. "They were fighting something."
"I don't like this," Lizzie whispered back, then stopped staring at several stasis pods along the left wall, each of them filled with a Sire. "At all."
"I don't trust him," Joseph whispered. "Keep your gun ready."
Lizzie nodded in agreement, and they followed the others in silence. Niles explained that his experiments at New Hope had begun as a way to find a cure for Rustlung, but had resulted in the creation of "gods," likely meaning the Sires. And for just a moment, Niles' tone betrayed his spite and anger at the COG not sharing his view of the Sires. In the next large room, several stasis tanks rose with more Sires, though deformed ones, and Niles explained in detail that they were failures due to being "unstable" and that the eventual breakthrough came in the form of one of the miners' children who was resistant to both aging and disease, and that they raised her as their own. As they walked, Joseph nudged Lizzie and nodded to one of the spotlights lighting the room, which was a Locust Cross, though oriented to be an "X" instead of a cross. Lizzie frowned at that, but nodded. Something wasn't adding up, but Joseph had a sneaking suspicion that if the Sires were the beginning stage, and failures, maybe the Locust had their origins a bit closer to humanity than anyone realized. And then, in the next room, it was confirmed. Niles showed them a stasis pod with one of his prized successes. A "Hybrid" he called it. But it was a Locust. Part of its reasoning for being a success was that it was not sterile, as the Sires were. They were highly controllable and able to reproduce.
"Able to reproduce?" Joseph asked as Del was having Jack download all of Niles' genetic research from a terminal Niles was showing them information about the Locust on. "Wait, you bred Myrrah with the Sires? It was Myrrah, wasn't it?"
"Nothing so monstrous," Niles assured him, though Joseph felt far from reassured. "But yes, it was Myrrah. Or as you know her, Queen Myrrah."
"Oh man," Del made a disgusted face. "I don't think I want to know what any of these file names mean."
"To answer your question, her stem cells were delightfully complimentary to Sire DNA," Niles continued as Kait looked through a patient file about Myrrah. "But we underestimated so much. Young Myrrah's strong maternal feelings, for instance."
"Let me guess, she led her "children" to slaughter you all," Kait almost sneered.
"No, no, no," Niles said. "Well, yes. But I meant her more traditional maternal feelings, for her daughter. Little Reyna. Your mother."
"What?" Kait gasped. "You're lying!"
"He's not," Joseph said. "It makes sense. It's why your mother was singled out as the next Queen. And it's why you're been having those hallucinations you refuse to admit to. It's why you were able to control the Swarm from inside of that Snatcher."
"You were?" Niles asked.
"Shut up, Niles," Lizzie snapped. "We're not here to feed your narcissistic obsession with the Locust."
"I see," Niles said. "Very well. But, what they say makes sense. Your grandmother was psychically connected to the Locust. And your mother was born here, and taken from us by her spineless father. Thus causing young Myrrah's unfortunate rebellion!"
"Back up!" Joseph snapped, holding his Boltok to Niles' head, or what passed of it, as Niles had been growing closer to Kait with every word as he got himself worked up. "Back up, or I shoot you and we'll find what we need ourselves."
"Hey, what's going on?" Del asked, not having been listening as he was reviewing Niles' files.
"He will kill you if he knows!" Niles said. "They all will!"
"What did you just say?" Del demanded. Del froze, then turned as Kait loaded her Snub pistol and aimed it at him. "Hey, hey...what are you..."
"Why did you come here with me?" Kait asked, backing away from the three of them. "What did JD tell you?"
"That we need to help you," Joseph said. "That he knows you would never hurt us and that you would die for us, but he's worried that the Swarm will find a way to control you. We came here to help you find a way to stop that because we're your friends, Kait. We always have been."
"Kait, we are not gonna hurt you!" Del said.
"No?" Kait snapped, eyes watering. "Maybe you should!" She held the gun to her own head. "Or maybe I should!"
"That would indeed sever the link between you and the Locust," Niles informed her.
"Shut up!" Joseph snapped. "Kait, put the gun down. We came to find a way to help you. Shooting you, or letting you shoot yourself is not an option."
"I won't let them do to me what they did to my mother!" Kait snapped.
"Neither will we," Lizzie assured her. "That's why we're here."
"Your mother?" Niles asked. "And what did they do to your mother?"
"In the Hive," Kait said, voice trembling. "They changed her. It killed her. I killed her."
"But that is the process that allows them to learn, to grow," Niles explained. "Without a queen, they remain...unguided."
"See?" Kait asked, panicking again. "See? I'm a weapon!"
"No," Del said. "You're not."
"I told you before!" Kait said. "Back in the village, when I was inside that Snatcher...I was controlling them!"
"You mean...like...you meant you were literally controlling them?" Del asked.
"She was," Joseph said. "I saw it. A Juvie turned on the other Swarm for a few moments, then a Drone, then a Scion did when it wiped out the other dozen that would have come through the main gate. You were inside of the Warden, too, right? But you couldn't stop it? You couldn't control that one?"
Kait shook her head. "I tried! I tried, but I couldn't control it! I...I think I hurt Oscar!"
"No," Joseph said. "You controlled the others and helped us. But you couldn't control the Warden. That wasn't you. That was all the Warden's doing. You just had to watch."
"How are you so calm about this!?" Del asked.
"Because the ones she controlled helped us!" Joseph snapped.
"I want it out of my head!" Kait shouted. "I want it to stop!"
"Okay," Del nodded.
Kait turned, aiming at Niles. "And you're gonna stop it."
"And if I do not?" Niles asked.
"Then we delete you and destroy every bit of your precious research!" Kait threatened.
"Then please, allow me to assist you," Niles said, turning and rolling away from them.
Joseph narrowed his eyes. "He's up to something."
"I don't care as long as he can make it stop," Kait said, following Niles.
Joseph and Lizzie exchanged an apprehensive glance and followed Kait with Del.
"Tell me something," Nile said as he led them through the facility. "Your mother and the Hive. Did she resist?"
"Of course she did," Kait spat.
"So I feared," Niles said sadly. "Young Myrrah needed no such crude incorporation.
"Niles, tell me something," Kait said. "My grandfather. Who was he?"
"One of my best geneticists," Niles answered. "He fled with little Reyna because he no longer believed in our work."
"I can't imagine why," Lizzie growled.
"Did Myrrah know where he took her?" Kait asked.
"I told Myrrah Reyna had perished in the escape attempt," Niles explained. "I assumed that would end the matter. I greatly miscalculated."
"The Locust War was your fault," Joseph realized. "Your experiments, your lie about Reyna. You drove Myrrah to hate humanity and caused the war."
"Perhaps it played a part, but there were more reasons for the war," Niles said. "I believe the Locust only emerged at the beginning of the war because the Imulsion drove them from the Hollow." He paused as they passed through a doorway into another room flooded by cryo fluids. "But it appears we have another malfunction. Perhaps you could address it."
They all continued along the path they were in, having Jack use a Stim projector on them so that their bodies would survive the blasts of a Cryo jet they had to pass in order to reach the generator powering the jets. However, as they quickly moved through the area, Joseph's grip on his Lancer grew tighter and tighter. The frozen bodies they were passing now told a much clearer story than those they'd passed before. First was a Gear, impaled on a Lancer bayonet and lifted into the air by the Locust holding the Lancer. Then, there were several Locust frozen while running through the rooms they were passing through in the opposite direction, holding Lancers, Gnashers, or large pipes. As the generator shut down, Joseph moved to the railing overlooking the flooded section of the room.
"This wasn't an accident," Joseph growled. "When the Locust revolted, he froze everyone in the facility. He killed them all."
"And he probably put himself in that box to save himself," Lizzie agreed.
"Hey, watch it," Del was saying. "Jack's spoken for."
"Well, you do make a lovely couple," Niles said as he rolled past Joseph and the others.
"Can I kill him after he helps you, Kait?" Joseph whispered.
"I don't care what happens to him after he fixes me," Kait muttered. "But not before then."
Joseph nodded, and they followed Niles again.
Kait continued to talk to Niles as they walked, but Joseph ignored that, staring at more and more frozen Locust as they passed them, as well as dozens of dead or dying Gears. Then, finally, they reached an enormous cavern where a massive, inhuman creature with spines coating its back, like a much larger, more powerful Sire, floated in a spherical stasis tank.
"What the hell is that thing?" Kait asked.
"The Matriarch was generated from your grandmother's stem cells and Sire DNA," Niles explained. "She amplified Myrrah's ability to communicate with the Locust."
As they approached the tank, a round device in front of it lit up with a ring of yellow lights inside.
"This device is where Myrrah first learned to control her power," Niles explained. "But we can also use it to sever your link, if you choose."
"So how does it work?" Kait asked.
"By mildly damaging your brain," Niles said simply.
"Excuse me?" Lizzie scoffed.
"Wanna run that by us again?" Joseph asked.
"Her connection to the Locust is based on a genetic algorithm inside her temporal lobe," Niles explained. "Altering that requires...anesthesia, you could say."
"Sounds like a lobotomy," Kait noted.
"A lobotomy is highly invasive," Niles said, sounding offended. "This is directed."
"What's the difference?" Joseph asked.
"While I work, the Matriarch will guide your mind, undetected, to where it must go," Niles said, ignoring Joseph.
Kait moved to step forward, only for Del to hold up a hand, stopping her. "Okay. Alright. No, no, no, no, no. You are not doing this. I do not trust this can."
"Then watch him," Kait said. "But I have to do this! I'm losing control. I won't hurt anyone else! Understood?"
"Understood," Del said, stepping aside as a metal lab table with wrist, ankle, and head restraints slanted itself for her to lay on.
Niles turned to the controls as Kait lay on the table, Joseph and Lizzie holding her weapons for her.
"If she doesn't survive this, or is in any way different aside from her connection being severed, you die," Joseph warned him.
"She will be fine," Niles assured him as a pair of arms reached out from below the screen bearing his face in order to work the controls. "I will make this as painless as possible."
"Yeah, you better," Del growled.
A large metal semicircle lowered over Kait's head before shining a pair of yellow lines onto her face, forming a cross like an MRI. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, she gasped, tensing and gritting her teeth. However, beyond the discomfort on her face, she didn't seem to be in distress, so Joseph didn't immediately shoot Niles. However, after a moment, she suddenly thrashed, groaning in pain.
"Hey," Del said, walking over to Kait's side. "Is she okay?"
"She is fine," Niles said. "Patience."
"What's going to happen after her connection is severed?" Joseph asked.
"She will be free of the visions she has been experiencing," Niles said, turning back to the controls.
Kait cried out in pain, and Joseph and Lizzie looked over at her as Del took her hand.
"Hey, Kait," Del called out to her. "I'm here. I'm here."
Suddenly, Kait began to scream in pain, and Joseph swore. He turned to demand to know what was going on, but Niles was gone. He cursed harshly running past the controls in time to see Niles fleeing. He raised Kait's rifle, firing a burst after him, but only two of the bullets hit him, and only in grazing shots, before Niles was out of sight.
"Shit!" Joseph shouted. "Shut it down!"
"Jack!" Del said, but after a moment of Jack hovering in front of the computer and working on the computer only to achieve nothing, Del shoved him out of the way.
"Lift the power cables!" Joseph instructed, and Del grabbed them, leaning back to raise them off the floor.
Joseph dropped Kait's Lancer beside the control console and powered up his own Lancer's chainsaw bayonet and swung it down, slamming it into the cables and sawing through them almost instantly. The machine powered off, sparks jumping from the cords, and Del fell on his back, knocking his own guns free of their magnets. Del ignored it, running to help Kait out of the machine, so Joseph and Lizzie each grabbed one of his guns.
"Kait," Del called out as he helped her sit up. "Kait! Hey, are you okay?"
"Yeah," Kait gasped out. "Yeah, but..."
"Okay, come on," Del said, helping her stand. "We can talk about it later."
"You're gonna need these," Joseph said, he and Lizzie holding out their weapons.
"Listen!" Kait said urgently. "He used me! My mother...she's alive!"
"What?" Del asked.
"It...wasn't really her," Kait frowned in confusion. "Except, except it was." She looked around, noticing Niles was gone and there was a siren shrieking overhead. "Where is he?"
"He bolted," Joseph said. "We need to go, now."
"Emergency shutdown in effect," a female voice announced above them as several heavy blast doors began to close, starting to seal the path Niles had taken.
"Come on!" Del said, grabbing Kait's hand and pulling her as they began to run. "He went this way. Come on, come on, come on, come on!"
They sprinted out of the room, sliding under one of the doors just before it could seal them in. They spotted Niles instantly, but before they could catch him, a blast door sealed the path. They veered right, taking a detour as Kait shrieked profanities at Niles.
"Surely you see I've done you a kindness," Niles said over the overhead speakers. "You are no longer vulnerable to the Hivemind, and your mother has been awakened. Well, so to speak."
"I'm gonna fucking kill you!" Kait shrieked just as the cryo jets began to fire a few seconds at a time.
"Not if we don't find a way to shut off those cryo jets," Joseph said.
"I don't think he can hear you, Kait," Del said placatingly.
"I don't give a shit!" Kait snapped.
"Cryogenic lockdown commencing," the automated systems announced. "Please exit the lab immediately."
They searched for a path through the lab, finally finding a door that a Locust was frozen while trying to break down, having almost succeeded. Joseph shot the frozen Locust with his Boltok, shattering it, then returned the Boltok to its magnet holster to that its Fabricator Cylinder, the Boltok equivalent of a Fabricator Mag which would automatically eject spent casing out to the right of the Boltok, could generate a replacement bullet. He kicked the door, breaking the latch free from the frame and opening the door, only to find a massive ice crystal blocking their path.
"Shit," Joseph swore. "I'm so sick of ice!"
He extended his right Corpser Legs, smashing the ice apart with a pair of strikes, then retracted the legs again as they ran across the catwalk to the next room. It was flooded with frigid air from cryo jets, so Jack used his stim projector on them all again as they ran through the room for the controls.
"I'm gonna make him pay!" Kait growled.
"You're not gonna do anything but freeze if we don't lift this lockdown!" Del snapped.
Slumped over the controls was a half-frozen, half-decomposed, bald scientist.
"Shit!" Kait gasped. "I think this was Niles!"
"Then slap his hand on that scanner!" Del urged.
Kait complied, and after a moment, the alarm and the flashing yellow lights shut off, as did the cryo jets.
"Identification, Director Niles Samson, approved," the automated systems said. "Cryogenic lockdown terminated."
"That bastard!" Del growled. "He put this whole place into deep freeze right before he bled to death!"
"Told you so," Joseph said. "By the way, what are the chances that the cryogenic lockdown included the Locust and Sires?"
Del and Kait both groaned as Lizzie merely sighed.
"Given our luck, pretty high," Kait acknowledged, then froze as shutters on the windows rose and the lights in the chamber they'd just left came on. "Uh, guys...the Matriarch is...gone."
"Oh, I'm sure that's not going to be a problem," Del said sarcastically.
"Let's just find Niles," Lizzie said.
A door off to their left hissed open, and they all moved through it, searching for a way back to the path they'd been sealed out of before.
"Freeing the Matriarch was...unwise," Niles said over the loudspeaker. "You will die. Which means you will never look upon the grandeur of your mother. Transfigured."
They dropped into a tunnel that looked to have been dug through the wall and down at an angle, sliding down the ice lining it rapidly. As they landed at the bottom, there was a door like those along the main hallways, so they headed for that. It didn't have power, however, so Del and Joseph grunted in effort, lifting the heavy door, then struggling to hold it up long enough for everyone to pass under it before letting it drop behind them. And just like that, they were back in the main hallway again.
"Kait, you wanna tell me what the hell Niles is talking about?" Del asked.
"Later," Kait said. "After we deal with Niles."
They passed a set of powered-down cryo jets and into the room where the Locust had been stored, just as Niles began to run his mouth again.
"Every child needs a playmate," Niles said as a stasis tank rose from the ground.
"No," Joseph breathed.
"Have fun," Niles invited as the tank shattered, a Locust Grub crashing to the ground, then roaring at them and grabbing a Mark One Lancer from the ground.
"Oh, shit!" Del swore, everyone diving for cover just ahead of the Locust's fire.
"Be careful!" Joseph shouted over the gunfire. "These are Locust! You won't be able to get a knife into them, and they're tougher than Swarm Drones!"
"Got it!" Kait shouted back.
As the Locust finally stopped shooting, Joseph leaned out, seeing another charging with a pipe. He raised his rifle and began to fire, but true to his word, the Locust refused to go down. Finally, after nearly an entire magazine, the Locust collapsed just as a burst of Lancer bullets slammed into the side of Joseph's helmet, dazing him and nearly knocking him out of cover, though Lizzie caught him and pulled him back. Del and Kait stood, both firing carefully, and their bullets slammed into the Locust, including a few shots in its head, but the Locust merely roared in pain and ducked down until they stopped, then stood, firing again.
"What the hell!?" Kait demanded. "We shot it in the head!"
"Locust have nearly rock-hard skin and denser bones, according to Uncle Clay!" Joseph said. "You probably barely broke through the skull!"
Then, he and Lizzie stood, a burst instantly slamming into Joseph's chestplate, only for him to continue to fire along with Lizzie as he staggered back a few steps and caught himself. And a moment later, their combined fire had killed the Locust.
"No wonder humanity nearly got wiped out!" Del said. "These things are terrifying!"
Just then, four more stasis tanks rose and shattered on the far side of the room, and Joseph swore, grabbing his Longshot and sighting in. To his relief, when he placed a shot in one of the new four's heads, it burst apart instantly.
"I'll cover you from back here!" Joseph said. "Be careful!"
The other three nodded, starting forward, and the three Locust still alive moved to meet them. Joseph managed to shoot one of them in the chest, but it survived, albeit being sent stumbling out of cover and into Lizzie and Kait's line of fire. One of the other two charged, and Kait and Del grabbed their Gnashers and stepped out in front of it, both blasting it in the torso and killing it instantly. Then, as the last stepped out, Joseph shot it in the head, once again killing it. Then, as he moved to meet up with the others, four more burst out of their tanks, landing on the opposite side of a lowered area flooded with cryo fluid. All four grabbed Lancers and opened fire, and everyone dove for cover. This time, Joseph got grazed by a bullet on his left thigh, Lizzie got grazed on the side of her neck, and a shot glanced off of Del's armor, knocking him off balance so that he slammed into the wall he was heading for face first.
"Lizzie!" Joseph gasped, instantly sprinting to her, three separate burst bouncing off of his armor before he reached her.
"I'm alright," Lizzie said, holding a hand to her neck. "It just grazed me."
Joseph pulled her hand away to inspect it, then sighed, resting his helmet against hers for a moment. "Stay down."
Lizzie nodded, and Joseph leaned out just as the Locust began to shoot, instantly shooting one of the four before leaning back again. Except, just as he did, a grenade bounced over the wall and landed in front of them.
"Shit!" Joseph shouted, grabbing it and dropping it over the wall behind them into the cryo fluid.
Then, he and Lizzie hunkered down just before it exploded. Once the explosion had cleared, he growled in annoyance, swapping his Longshot for his Lancer again.
"Fuck this," Joseph growled. "I'm your cover."
Lizzie swallowed hard, then nodded. As one, both of them stood, Joseph standing upright and firing at the Locust with his Lancer as Lizzie stood behind him, leaning into him and firing around him with her Boltok. Bullets instantly began to bounce off of Joseph's armor uselessly, but his unarmored legs were protected behind the low wall they'd been in cover behind, and Lizzie was protected by his armor. A shot grazed Joseph's outer arm, but he ignored it, firing in careful bursts. One Locust dropped to a pair of careful, tight bursts to the face, the next to a string of shots from Joseph, Kait, and Del all firing together. The third, as it leaned out, took a Boltok shot directly to its left eye, courtesy of Lizzie, and its head burst apart. Everyone looked around, tense, but there were no more Locust currently up and about.
"I fucking hate Locust," Joseph decided.
"Give me Swarm any day," Lizzie agreed.
"You guys okay?" Kait asked.
"We'll live," Joseph said, glancing down at his armor. "They chipped my paint, though."
"But not your armor," Del offered.
Joseph shrugged and looked at Lizzie as she duct taped a rag over the graze on her neck to stem the bleeding. As he turned back to the front, Del was having Jack use a Shock Trap to power off a generator, which in turn cleared the cryo fluid in front of them, allowing them to reach the door. However, when Joseph pulled the lever to open the door, it did nothing.
"It's locked," Kait groaned.
"There's got to be a way to open it," Del sighed, looking around. "Hey, up there. Jack, see if you can do anything through that vent."
Jack beeped in response, flying up toward the vent Del had seen, but just as he passed into it, more stasis tanks began to rise.
"No," Joseph growled, swapping to his Longshot. "No fucking way. No more!"
"We're not leaving this room until they're all dead!" Kait growled.
"Agreed," Lizzie nodded. "They can't be allowed to live."
The others nodded in agreement, and as the Locust began to move up, Joseph began to pick them off with his Longshot, the others using their Lancers in careful bursts, when they could. However, no matter how fast they managed to take them down, the stasis tanks were rising and releasing them faster, the number of Locust actively fighting them quickly climbing. Then, the door was open and Jack was back just as Joseph had to switch back to his Lancer.
"Jack, get that generator going again!" Joseph ordered, Jack beeping in argument.
"Just do it, man!" Del shouted, firing at a Locust that had Kait pinned, making it duck down.
More and more Locust began to drop into cover in the lower portion of the room. But just as they did, Jack got the cryo jets going again, and in seconds, the lower section was again flooded with frigid air and cryo fluid, freezing them all solid. And with as many as were in the lower section as there were, that left only two opposite them. Both stood to fire, but just as they did, all four Gears facing them hurled a grenade into their faces, blasting them apart before quickly shooting the frozen Locust and slaughtering them easily.
"There," Joseph said. "We're clear."
"Alright," Kait nodded. "Let's go and find Niles."
They headed through the door, Kait pulling the lever to open the next door, but just as they did, there was a crash and a muffled roar.
"What now, more Locust?" Joseph demanded.
"Oh no," Kait breathed.
They looked under the last door, which was jammed halfway closed, just as the Matriarch smashed down from the ceiling, then turned toward them. It roared instantly, then ripped a spine from its back. However, just as it moved to hurl it like a javelin, Joseph rammed into Kait on instinct, and the pike smashed against his own chestplate, hurling him backward into the next door.
"Close the door!" Kait shrieked. "Close it!"
The others complied instantly, and less than a second after the door slammed shut, it deformed as the Matriarch exploded into it shoulder-first. Then, the Matriarch slammed into it again, though doing no visible damage this time.
"Is that gonna hold?" Del asked.
"I have exactly zero interest in finding out!" Kait said as Lizzie helped Joseph back to his feet. "Let's go!"
They turned, fleeing through the next door, then taking a detour to the right, as the path ahead of them was collapsed.
"What the hell is that thing!?" Del asked as they ran.
"I got a glimpse inside its head," Kait said. "You don't want to know."
"My goodness," Niles spoke up suddenly. "Someone seems to have awakened my Sires from their long hibernation. I wonder who that could have been."
"Oh, great," Joseph sighed. "More monsters."
"At least their not Locusts," Kait said.
Just then, several stasis tanks on the right exploded, a trio of Sires charging at them. All four opened fire, but the Sires seemed to feel no pain, and certainly didn't fear bullets. And they were durable. As they charged across the chamber, roaring angrily, each of them took double the amount of bullets of a Locust. As all four Lancers ran dry, Lizzie, Joseph, and Del began to swap Fabricator Mags as Kait swapped to her Gnasher, stepping forward to meet the last living Sire, which was already riddled with bullet holes. Then, nearly at point blank range, she blasted the Sire in the face and torso, and it roared in response, lunging. It knocked the Gnasher from her hands, then darted around her, grabbing her by the throat from behind before rapidly dragging her away from the others.
"Kait!" Del shouted, Joseph sprinting after her just as more tanks off to the left shattered.
Kait fought to stop the Sire from dragging her away, but it was vastly stronger than her. However, finally, Joseph dove forward, tackling both of them to the ground before ripping one of his knives out and driving it down into the Sire's face, then levered it forward and slashed up out of the top of its head.
"Watch out!" Del warned, just as Joseph sheathed his knife.
However, before the Sire leaping at Joseph and Kait could reach them, Joseph's left arm snapped out, fingers splayed, only to then snap closed, and his left Corpser Claws flashed out, ripping through the Sire and sending its body spinning away.
"I'll handle them," Joseph said. "They have no guns, so I can fight my way."
The others, minus Lizzie, watched in stunned silence as Joseph stalked forward, drawing the two knives from the back of his belt as his four Corpser Claws extended at his sides. When the next Sire leapt at him, he spun, the Corpser Claws on his left whipping around and tearing through it while pressed together, ripping it in half. The next was struck in an almost back-handed swipe by the right Corpser Claws. The Locust Crystal spines ripped at its body, but didn't kill it. However, the strike did knock it off balance, so a moment later, Joseph was able to step forward and slash its throat, then spin around it and slash out the backs of its knees, crippling it as it bled out. Another Corpser leapt at Joseph, only for him to swipe his arms downward as he bent forward, all four ends exploding down on it, impaling it in four spots and smashing it to the ground, killing it instantly. He retracted the claws entirely, sheathing his knives, and pulled his Lancer off his back again as the others joined him.
"Where'd you learn to fight like that?" Del asked.
"Where'd you think I spent my time the last four months in between rounds of bugging Baird for new toys and fucking Lizzie?" Joseph asked.
"Okay, I did not need to hear about that," Kait said, just as another trio of Sires charged at them from the end of the next room.
All four opened fire, this time managing to kill all three before anyone was grabbed. Then, they were off again, searching for Niles. However, just as they passed through the next door, they froze. Ahead of them was the Matriarch, but as they all stood absolutely motionless, at Kait's silent urging, a cryo jet opposite it from them went off and it charged over, only to be hit by the jet and shriek in pain and rage before turning along the tunnel down there and charging out of sight.
"Wait, it didn't see us?" Del asked. "You think it's...blind?"
"Seems that way," Joseph nodded.
"And it clearly doesn't like the cold," Kait noted. "Come on. Let's keep going."
They followed the hallway into the next stretch of lab, only to stop as nearly a dozen Sires all broke free at once.
"Nope," Joseph said, grabbing three grenades and tossing them ahead of the Sires, Lizzie doing the same as Del and Kait both threw one each into the middle of the group to get the further back Sires.
A moment later, the explosions all went off, slaughtering the Sires.
"Kind of hard on our grenade stock, but effective," Kait mused.
"I'll take it," Joseph said, continuing into the lab.
"My Sires' interest in self-preservation was always...lacking," Niles admitted. "But I assure you, there will be no escaping the Matriarch."
As they did, they noticed a thick trail of some kind of green fluid. They decided to follow it, but no sooner had they ducked under the first door, did they see Niles disappearing behind another that sealed behind him.
"DAMNIT! ! !" Kait shrieked.
"Calm down," Joseph said. "He's leaking oil. He's not going far. Besides, Jack's got the door."
Kait looked over at Jack just as he finished with the door's lock, the door rising out of their way. They quickly followed Niles' trail of fluid, which might as well be a blood trail, ad soon found him in a large room filled with frozen pools of water and massive ice pillars.
"What has been done cannot be undone," Niles said. "This planet is now theirs."
"I told you I'd get you!" Kait snarled, raising her Lancer.
Before she could fire, however, the Matriarch leapt from an opening high on the wall to their left, exploding down through the ice with Niles, only to lift him out of the water, rip him in half, and hurl half of him away before freezing solid, except for its back, the majority of which was glowing reddish orange, like the inside of a Carrier's chest, or a Snatcher or Pouncer's stomach.
"Now or never!" Kait said. "Let's kill this thing!"
"This is the best place for it!" Joseph agreed, sprinting off to the right with Lizzie, Del and Kait going left.
After about ten seconds, the Matriarch smashed free of the ice and leapt out of the water, sailing across the entire room before crashing down and roaring. Both of the pairs split instantly, Joseph taking the honor of playing bait first. He fired a stream of bullets into the Matriarch's face for several seconds before it roared and charged at him. He dove out of the way, and the Matriarch exploded through five ice pillars before skidding to a stop nearly in the center of a frozen pond, only for Kait's grenade to bounce to a stop below it and explode, dropping it in. It roared, turning toward Kait, placing Lizzie directly behind it, and she opened fire instantly, closing in to make it easier, and just as she got within five feet of it, Del and Joseph joined her, all three spraying bullets into its exposed back. However, a few seconds later, it was free and leapt away from them. This time, it charged at Kait as she made too much sound trying to escape, and she only barely avoided it, allowing it to explode into a wall. Then, before it could turn back around, Jack used his Flash to freeze it in place. Joseph grinned, grabbing his Longshot as the others began to spray its back, Joseph adding shots as fast as he could, managing to get six before the Matriarch broke free. He frowned as he realized Jack's Flash didn't last as long as the water. But that was fine. It would be enough. It was another chance to attack it.
The Matriarch roared, turning and leaping into the air, plummeting toward Del. Del dove to the side, avoiding its attempt to crush him at the same time as allowing it to crash down into a pool of water. As it thrashed and froze, Joseph waited, watching to see where it would freeze, then sprinted forward with the others all standing side by side behind it, spraying it in the back. Then, finally, it smashed free of the water and leapt out , landing off to the side. It began to turn, only for Joseph to spray it in the face, running off to the side. It roared, turning after him and charged, but as it did, Joseph dropped a grenade, allowing the explosion to throw him as it opened up the ice, the Matriarch crashing down in the water. It roared as it froze and the other three opened fire, Joseph pushing himself up. Finally, it exploded out of the water, landing on the far side and roared, Kait groaning and holding a hand to her head, stumbling before gritting her teeth and focusing, seeming to fight through the influence the Matriarch obviously had on her.
After a moment, the Matriarch roared and charged, but before it could reach them, Joseph and Lizzie shot out the ice in front of the Matriarch, allowing it to splash down and freeze yet again. Once again, they all sprinted around behind it, spraying bullets into its back, but once again, it broke free and continued its rampage as though nothing had happened.
"This isn't working!" Joseph shouted.
"We're open to other suggestions!" Kait shouted.
"We just need to keep-SHIT!" Del shouted in pain as the Matriarch managed to clip him, hurling him aside before slowing to a stop.
Then, it rounded on Joseph, and he glanced down at his Lancer before growling in annoyance.
"Jack, I need you to freeze it right before it hits me!" Joseph said.
Jack beeped worriedly, but prepared. Then, the Matriarch charged. At the last second, Joseph dove away just as Jack unleashed its flash, freezing the Matriarch. Joseph rolled to his feet and instantly sprinted around behind the Matriarch, powering up his chainsaw bayonet. Then, he slammed it into the Matriarch's back and the chainsaw roared as it easily sawed through the vulnerable flesh of its back and met the much more solid spine. However, after another moment, it had sawed through the spine just as the Matriarch broke free of the ice, only to collapse. Joseph stepped up over it, ripping into the Matriarch's back again at a perpendicular angle, carving an "X" into the Matriarch's back and sawing through its spine again. Then, as he stepped back and leveled his rifle at its back again, the other three stepped up beside him before all three began to spray into it. It roared and flailed the muscles in its arms and above, but everything below its arms remained limp now that its spine was ruined. In truth, Joseph was amazed it was still alive after having its spine ripped apart entirely like it was, but he ignored its stalwart refusal to die as they all reloaded to a fresh Fabricator Mag, then another, then another. Finally, as their rifle clicked empty yet again, its flailing finally slowed to a stop as a gurgling groan rolled out of it before it went silent, the pale red light in its eyes fading.
"Finally," Joseph sighed. "You good, Del?"
"I'm good," Del nodded.
"We came here to make things better," Kait said, more to herself than anyone else, "but I made them worse."
"And you're sure what you saw was real?" Del asked.
"It was real," Kait said firmly.
"Okay," Del nodded. "Then maybe she'll, I dunno...I mean, help us somehow."
"She would, if she could," Kait agreed. "But she's not my mother anymore."
"Then who is she?" Del asked.
"Their queen," Kait said darkly.
"Come on," Lizzie said. "Let's get out of here, in case that thing decides to get up again."
Kait nodded, and they all turned, beginning to search for a place where they could safely climb out. Finally, they found the same slope they'd fallen down, and all began to struggle to climb up it, slipping and sliding back down several times before finally managing to get back to the surface.
"If they've really got their queen, and Niles is right about what happens next, we need a new plan," Del said, helping Kait up as Joseph pulled Lizzie up.
"No, we need the old plan," Kait said.
"The Hammer of Dawn," Lizzie said, she and Joseph catching up to Kait and Del.
"Don't worry guys, we caught up," Joseph said.
"Oh, I thought you were still crying about your bike," Del smirked.
"Hey!" Lizzie said. "It was a nice bike!"
"It could hold its solar charge for twelve hours!" Joseph agreed.
Just then, a Raven flew overhead and landed off to the side.
"Oh, thank God!" Del groaned.
Marcus opened the side door, smirking at them and letting Baird off the Raven. "Looks like you need a ride."
"And speaking of a ride, who's gonna break the news to Baird?" Joseph muttered to Lizzie, who grimaced.
"I'll make it up to you?" Lizzie tried.
Joseph sighed. "You're lucky I love you. I'll go take the ass chewing."
Lizzie grinned, and Joseph walked over to Baird, who was looking around in confusion.
"Where the hell's the bike?" Baird asked.
"Down there," Joseph said, gesturing to the hole. "There was a little bit of a...miscalculation when we were trying to get through the ice."
"You dropped my bike down a hole?" Baird asked, crossing his arms. "Do you remember what I said about you not being gentle with the equipment I give you?"
"Something about it having a lifetime warranty?" Joseph offered. "Just to prove you can fix anything we can fuck up with it?"
Baird stared at him in silence before walking over to look down into the hole, only to sigh, shaking his head.
"Why do I ever give you guys stuff?" Baird sighed. "It's totalled." He sighed heavily. "I'll make you a new one. You're gonna need it."
"Seriously?" Joseph asked. "Where are we going?"
"We'll explain when we all debrief each other," Baird said. "Come on. Let's get you home."
"Yes please," Joseph groaned. "I'm so sick of being cold. Wherever we go next better not have ice."
Baird laughed, closing the Raven's side door after him.
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