The fields of mud and rock were covered with the bodies of the dead. Soldiers from both sides lay dead with weapons and body parts scattered around. There were a few vehicles, but not many. Their burning wrecks lit up the area around them. Lighting cracked the sky as rain poured down while a lone soldier pulled along the corpses of his dead comrades and enemies. His shiny blue armour glinted as the sky cracked with lighting.
Wounded and dying, he moved towards to communications spire at the far end of the battlefield to alert friendly forces. Assuming they hadn't been alerted already. False hope was still hope that allowed people to move on. And he grasped onto every shred of hope and strength he could as he pulled himself forward and further. They had failed in their objective; he would not fail his.
He pulled himself 30 meters over bodies, weapons and mud to reach the spire. Reaching out, he was about to activate it when a voice sent dread through his body.
"For almost dead, you did well," the voice boomed with darkness and malice. "I am impressed,"
The soldier turned pale as he moved to see the Dark lord standing over him. The giant of a man stood over him like a mountain, his flesh covered by the dark armour he wore and the blackness of the night. His head was hooded and his eyes blazed like a never-ending fire. As the soldier backed up, the Dark lord got down to one knee to look at the soldier at eye level.
"It takes more than guts, more than strength, more than determination to do what you have done, in the condition you are in," he reached out with a hand offering it to him. "I can heal your wounds and give you power to fight on, in my name,"
"You've got some nerve to say that to me," the soldier said as she pulled his visor up. "After you left me behind,"
"Kadian," the Dark Lord said with a hint of sadness. "I'm sorry, it was either you or the mission,"
Kadian Alenko slapped the Dark Lord's hand out of the way. "I don't want your pity or mercy. I just hope that they stop you,"
The Dark Lord sighed, "You are deluded by the lies the Knights have told. If they succeed, then no one wins,"
"Like I believe what you have to say after what you have done," Kadian spat.
The Dark Lord said nothing as he moved to hold his hand in front of Kadian muttering an ancient spell. Red magic circles appeared before the two and light poured into Kadian's eyes. As it did, the former follower of the Dark Lord widened his eyes as he understood what was going on. After a moment had passed, he pulled his hand away.
"Now do you see?" the Dark lord asked and Kadian nodded.
"I….I…. he tried but his life slipped from him unable to stay for much longer.
Dark Lord said nothing as he withdrew his hand. For a moment he stayed there looking at the man who he had watched move across 30 meters of battlefield to reach this point. With a sigh, he pulled Kadian onto the ground and positioned it in a way to be respectful to the dead. With that done he stood and looked around.
"Status report!" he boomed.
"3,700 soldiers dead, but the main objective has been achieved," a robotic female voice said.
The Dark Lord grunted in response as he looked at the castle in front of him. Its seamless structure shines in the light of lighting. While he had not lost many, any soldier dead meant one less to fight in another battle. He regretted the need to use them, but such as the need against the light.
"Order the Council to meet me inside," he said as he walked towards the open gate.
"Yes, my lord," the response came.
The Dark Lord remained silent as he walked, keeping in mind the dead before him. Doing his best not to disturb their final rest. He may have won, but that didn't give him the right to disrespect the dead by defiling their corpses. They fought well and hard, earning the right to their peaceful rest.
Stepping into the castle itself, he looked around taking in the finely crafted walls and decorations. The ancient race, the Protheans, had archived much by their domination of the galaxy. But like all empires, they fell. Time was an undisputed killer of all. This place was just a monument to a dead race. But a place that one of the Gods had commanded him to go to.
Walking up to the engraved patterns on the wall, he rubbed his gauntleted hand across it. Feeling the raised and perfect edges of text and images telling a story of ages that he didn't recognise. He wondered what this place was for. No, that was a lie. He knew what this place was used for. The question was what did the ancients need with a place like this?
The sound of footsteps met his ears before the voice of one of his Councillors. "My lord, you called for us," the male voice asked.
"Indeed, I did James," the Dark Lord said as he pulled himself away from the wall and walked up to the group gathered before him. "We are here because the forces of Light have found a way to leave this universe. We are going to stop them,"
Around him stood members of most of the races of the galaxy. Turrian, Human, Demon, Dwarf, Elf, Asari, Korgan, Salarian, Quarrian and Battarian. His trusted allies, his friends. They all looked at him with various expressions of surprise and puzzlement.
"What? They can leave this universe?" one of the Asari, asked her face betraying her scepticism.
"The multiverse theory is a long and well-debated subject in the scientific field," the scientist said as the Salarian brought up a holographic chart. "But to go there is another thing,"
"Why would we need to?" an Elf, asked her long raven hair waving in the wind.
One of the Korgans grunted in response. "Because they are cowards and need to be hunted like the vermin they are," in response he got a nod from another Krogan by the name of Grunt.
"Not quite," the Dark Lord said, gaining the attention of everyone. "There is a force at work that is wanting to disrupt the universe as a whole. The forces of Light wish to help it because it will stop us,"
"So, if we stop this third party…" an environmentally suited councillor said.
"We stop the Forces of Light," the Demon councillor said as her facial markings glowed. "What is our mission?" she asked.
"Follow me," The Dark Lord said as he turned and led the council through a corridor to a room with a massive ring in the middle. "Just as he said," he muttered before turning to look at his council. "This is the Universe Gate, the item which will let us travel across the multiverse. But only one can travel though at the moment. The reason is not explained, but from my understanding, it has something to do with the fabric of the universe,"
"So, you will leave us?" Miranda asked and to her surprise, the Dark Lord jerked his head.
"As much as I would like to meet my alternate self, I am needed here until the time is right," he then looked to one of his retinues. "Which is why, you will go first," he said pointing at the demon.
OOOOO
"Shepard is dead," Garrus said as he looked at the Mirandas before him.
The two blinked in surprise. They had read up and searched for the Commander's old team to try and get them on board the new Normandy. The Turrian in front of them evaded that investigation and now here he was, in the flesh. This was both good and bad. Good in the sense that the commander now had someone to rely on, bad in that he couldn't trust them due to being Cerberus. That meant they wouldn't be trusted by the Archangels in front of them.
As Miranda began to open her mouth the building shook and part of the roof fell through with two figures falling as well. They landed on their backs and got up slowly with groans and moans with a few curses added in for good measure.
"Why us?" the female asked earning a surprised look from Garrus.
"Easy, we're just unlucky," a male voice answered making the Cyborg Garrus turn.
"Looks like the gunships… gone," the female Shepard said as she turned to look at Garrus with wide eyes. "Garrus?" she asked with surprise. "You, your…." she sputtered.
"Oh, that's interesting," Ajax said as he turned around. "Hey Garrus, long time," he said walking up to and shaking hands with the Cyborg Garrus.
"I thought you were dead," the Cyborg Garrus said.
"Same," the 'normal' Garrus.
"Wait," the sword-wielding Garrus said as he stepped forward confused. "You two look nothing like the Shepard I know,"
As he spoke the Miranda's got up cracking their limbs while the 'normal' Garrus spoke up. "In what way?"
"Well for starters, they're both…" he looked around trying to find the right words. "Their errr pigmentation is wrong. Aside from the gender their armour is wrong as well, and looks,"
"What do you mean?" the Cyborg Garrus asked.
"Well, look at us and them," she said indicating to the other Garrus and Miranda's. "We and they look the same, but they don't. Isn't that weird?"
Ajax just shrugged. "Infinite universe, infinite possibilities," he smiled before a roar of engines flew by making them all duck. "But now's not the best time to talk about this," he hit his earpiece. "Kelly come in…" he waited but no answer. "Kelly? Kelly?" Inwardly he checked his communications and frowned. "Signal's cut,"
Looking at each other, the Miranda's and Jane checked their communications but nothing happened. They looked to Ajax and shook their heads. A look of concern was shared between the seven. Concerned, Ajax got up and walked to look out of one of the gaps in the structure. In the distance, a wall of pure black was approaching them at speed. He cursed before tapping his comm again.
"Jacob, do you read me?" he asked.
"Loud and clear!" both of the Jacobs said before one of them took over. "There's something heading this way!"
"I know, how far are you from our location?" Ajax asked, his panic becoming evident.
There was a short conversation between the two before both of them cursed. "Too far, we're at the marketplace to the south of you," one answered.
Ajax cursed as well. "Understood, we'll find some way to get to you," he said before cutting the comms and looking at the others. "Any ideas?" he asked.
The cyborg Garrus then pointed to a large truck. "We can use that, but neither of you…" he pointed to the two Shepards. "…are driving,"
"What?" they asked in surprise and offence.
"I take it that Shepard is as bad a driver in your universe," Garrus asked and the other two nodded.
"Hey," the Shepards objected in unison. "We aren't bad drivers, the controls just don't respond,"
That earned them 'are you serious' looks from the Garrus'.
"Looks like we got them in stereo," Miranda smiled with her cyborg counterpart smiling and nodding.
Before Cyborg Miranda could say anything the building shook as a gunship made a pass at them. "We can talk about this later," she said. "Everyone into the truck,"
There was no argument, but both Shepards were pouting as they entered the truck. Cyborg Garrus took the controls while Garrus took the gunner's console. The others strapped themselves into the seats while the truck started up.
"It's going to be a bumpy ride," Cyborg Garrus said. "Ajax, there's a hard-link to the secondary gun controls,"
Ajax said nothing as he looked around and found a wire. A section on the back of his neck opened up and he clicked the wire in place. While the others couldn't see, Ajax's vision was first filled with static while the necessary handshakes were made before his vision quickly changed as he gained access to one of the gun turrets mounted on the truck. After making a few tests with the gun turret, making it turn and fire, he held his thumb up to the others and the truck took off.
At first, it was a little disorientating as he felt his body move but not in time with his mind. A quick adjustment to his sensory settings fixed that as the truck burst through the walls of the building and onto the highway. Cyborg Garrus put his foot down as he expertly waved through the vehicles on the road. But that didn't stop the gunships from approaching and firing at them.
Ajax responded by firing back with the double-barrelled auto-cannon of the truck while Garrus fired with the truck's cannon. As the two fired, Ajax zoomed in and got a look at the emblem on the side of the gunships.
"Target identification, Blue Suns," he said.
"Has to be Tarak," Garrus grunted. "I thought I disabled that gunship,"
"You and me both," the other two Garrus' said as the two gunners fired at the gunships while the truck weaved around traffic.
OOOOO
"MOVE, MOVE MOVE!" Yasuke yelled as the 5-man team ran down the street, turning back occasionally to fire at their pursuers.
A large group of Blur Suns with mechs closed in behind them, cover where they can. But they didn't let up their fire as they pursued the crew. One of the mercs, armed with a grenade launcher, got in close and managed to fire a round at one of the cars. It detonated sending John into a wall, winding him. He coughed up a bit of blood, but staggered up with the help of Shion and fired back at the mercs.
"OVER HERE!" a voice yelled.
The group turned to see several black and red armoured troopers behind a makeshift barricade. Two gun turrets were set up at both ends of the barricade. Two of the black and red armoured troopers began to fire on the oncoming mercs, forcing the Suns to keep their heads down while the crew made their way over to them. The Suns tried to stop them by pouring on the firepower, but that did little as the black and red troopers set up force shields to block them before using grenadiers to scatter the mercs.
As they moved in, John noticed the emblem on their uniforms. "Normandy?" his brow raised.
"Normandy Security Services," one of the troopers said before pointing to the Suns. "Take them out,"
A series of positive affirmations echoed from the other troopers while the sergeant looked at them. "I guess, all of you are named Shepard?" he asked and got nods, but he responded with a sigh. "I hate it when my boss is right," he said as he removed his helmet. "But then again, it is interesting to meet other hims," Kadian Alenko said as he smiled.
John and Yasuke blinked Shion squealed. "Kaidies!" she yelled jumping on him. "Oh my god, it's so good to see you, even if you aren't my Kaidan,"
"I take it that something happened to me?" he asked looking at the two male Shepards.
"Yeah…" John said rubbing the back of his neck. "For me, you died on Vermire,"
"Same with mine," Yasuke said. "But why are you here?"
Shion pulled herself off of the scarred and augmented Aleko. "Yeah, what are you doing here?"
"I was sent here to secure the area by She.. I mean Ajax. He wanted me to secure Mordin before he arrived. He told me to be aware of other ones like him but different. I didn't believe him at first…" he said. "But then this… flickering began and all of a sudden there were three Mordins," he shuddered. "Seriously, one is like a hamster on coffee, three…" he shuddered again.
"So, he's inside?" Miranda asked.
"Inside, yes, he… not all of them," Kadian smiled. "Follow me," he said leading them into the clinic.
The doors opened to a worse scene than the five of them had seen before. Sure, they have seen battlefields, but seeing civilians in pain, dead or dying was never something a soldier never forgets. Spaces were almost covered in sleeping mats with people on them. Some were in better conditions than others. Medics moved around trying to help as much as possible. Some of them had 'NSS Medical' on their backs as they moved around.
One of them, an Asari, walked up to John and checked him over. "I'm detecting several broken ribs," she said before bringing her arm up to apply medi-gel. "Keep out of harms way please," she said before moving off. John just gave her a confused look before moving on feeling the medicine take effect quickly.
It seemed that Ajax had sent more than just troopers to help out. Kadian led them up to the top floor where voices could be heard.
"No, no, no, the genetic sequencing is flawed," a voice said, a familiar sound to John.
"That is due to the decay of the genetic nucleotides," a female voice added.
"Which prevent the protein strains from forming, breaking down the cure at a rapid rate," another voice added.
John smiled but groaned knowing the trouble he was getting them all into.
"Mordin Solus?" Kadian asked as he knocked on the door before walking in with the crew. "You have guests,"
The group entered and three pairs of Salarian eyes turned to the new group. Two of them were male while one was female, which wasn't much of a surprise. While telling female and male Salarians wasn't easy, the face paint on the female Solus was distinctive. The two males, on the other hand, were different. One wore the familiar white and red outfit, while the other wore a black and white outfit. He had an eyepiece over one eye as well as a cybernetic horn.
One of them stepped forward and took a scan on the commanders. "Humans, don't recognize you from area," the one in white said.
"Too well-armed to be refugees. No mercenary uniform. Quarantine still in effect. Here for something else? Vorcha? Crew to clean them out?" the female Mordin asked.
"Unlikely. Vorcha a symptom, not a cause. The plague! Investigating possible use as a bioweapon. No, no. Too many guns, not enough data equipment. Soldier, not scientist," the cyborg added.
"Hired guns? Related to NSS? Maybe. Looking for someone? Yes, but who? Someone important. Valuable. Someone with secrets. Someone like me, like us?" the female added.
The three Shepards looked to one another before shrugging. "We, well our last name, is Shepard," John said earning surprised looks from the Salarians. "I'm John, this is Shion and Yasuke,"
"Humm interesting, three Shepards, three Solus'," the female said. "I'm Mordina by the way, not Mordin. Minor issue, but interesting,"
"Maybe one from each alternate universe?" the white-coated Mordin suggested, but the cyborg shook his head.
"Unlikely," he said as he indicated the three. "Humans, all augmented in some way where I come from. No augmentations here," he then looked to his other selves. "More Shepards maybe?"
"Well, I know she…" Yasuke said as he indicated to Mordina. "…is from my universe. The dossier and Aria referred to Solus as a 'she',"
"I doubt anyone is from my, or his, universe," Shion said. "I'm not sure what happened but I didn't arrive here with a crew. And he…" she indicated to John. "…seems to also be from the future. But don't ask, he's keeping his mouth closed on that subject,"
"Damn right I am," John muttered. "But to business, we are here to recruit you, all of you, for a mission,"
That made them perk up a bit. "What mission? No, too busy. Clinic understaffed. Plague spreading too fast. Who sent you?" they all said in unison.
"Ever hear of an organization called Cerberus?" Shion asked, they are the ones who originally sent us.
The three Solus' looked at one another before shrugging in the same way. "Crossed paths on occasion. Though they only worked with humans," Mordina muttered.
"They do, but we're tracking down the Collectors," Yasuke clarified. "We are assembling a team to stop them,"
"Human colonies have been disappearing, we have evidence that the Collectors are behind it. We are going track them down and stop them," Miranda added.
"Collectors?" the three Salarians muttered with a look of interest.
"Interesting. Plague hitting these slums is engineered. Collectors one of few groups with technology to design it," Mordina said as the three began to walk weaving between each other.
The white-clad Mordin stopped for a moment. "Our goals may be similar. But must stop plague first,"
As he finished the cyborg Mordian continued. "Already have cure. Need to distribute it at environment control centre. Vorcha guarding it. Need to kill them,"
Before anyone could say anything, the ventilation in the room shut off. "Environmental systems down?" Miranda complained. "Why can't things be simple?"
"Welcome to my world," John muttered as the Solus' checked their omni-tools.
The Cyborg Mordin started. "The Vorcha have shut down environmental systems. Trying to kill everyone,"
"Need to get power back on before everyone suffocates. Here take plague cure," Mordina said as she handed Shion a blue canister.
The white-clad Mordin then stepped forward. "One more thing, Daniel, one of my assistants. Went into Vorcha territory. Looking for victims. Hasn't come back, other Daniels may also be trapped,"
Yasuke was about to speak but John beat him to it. "I know where they are, we'll find them,"
"Thank you. Told him not to go. But he's smart. Bright future. I hope," he said.
John then stepped forward and patted two of the Mordins on the shoulder. "I know he does," he said before leading the team out.
As they exited the main lab, Kadian joined them. "Well, that was interesting," he said with a smile.
"Can you point to the atmosphere station?" Yasuke asked as they headed for the back door.
Alenko shook his head. "Sorry, but I cannot. The whole area has changed to the point where my map doesn't work,"
The six of them stopped at the door. "Makes sense," Shion said. "If this flickering is universes combining or putting people in odd places, then locations may be different. Kinda like how a labyrinth moves," everyone nodded at that before Jacob looked to Kadian.
"You going to join us?" he asked. "We could use the extra firepower,"
Kadian smiled but shook his head. "I apply the thought, but I'm needed here, best of luck though," he said as the door opened and the crew waved their goodbyes as they moved into the backstreets.
OOOOO
Despite the number of ambushes, the Blood Pack tried, the team managed to push through and follow the signs for the sector's atmo generator. It was in a nearby industrial district which made sense. The generator itself was considered to be a piece of heavy industrial equipment. It also lets the maintenance teams get their equipment to and from the generator quickly. Even in places like Omega, there were certain maintenance priorities that even the gangs wouldn't skimp on.
The 'building' that housed the generator was off to the west side of the district. Easy to get to from Mordin's clinic if you knew the way, and followed the signs. But as they got close, John began to feel uneasy. There was something about this area that set him on edge. In his universe, the way leading to the generator was simple, but being in an open street felt off. He felt eyes on him coming from somewhere, not to mention the area was a little too quiet for his liking.
Trying to put it out of his mind, he moved to cover Jacob as he hacked the door. Yasuke and Shion looked at him but kept silent and their eyes were in front. The door opened and the crew moved into the building in a crescent formation, eyes open weapons at the ready. But they lowered their weapons as soon as they spotted three bodies hanging from the ceiling by the neck. Two male and one female with the latter also being a cyborg.
"What the…" John tried to say but several flash-bang grenades blinging them.
He could make out yells and cries as he was tipped up and forced to the floor with someone on his back. Cursing, he blinked as fast as he could to get the flash out of his eyes and clear his vision. Standing under the three hanging bodies stood two people in blue, white and silver armour. It was similar to the armour everyone wore, but this looked more medieval and the non-human equivalent of medieval. By the looks of the suits, a turrian and an asari stood in front of them.
After a few more grunts, John took a glance at the others to see them looking around, alert and confused. An indication that their vision had cleared. A good sign, but he was forced to look forward by whoever was on his back. He grunted in response to the sound of armoured boots on metal. Looking over to the sound he saw another Turrian in the same medieval-like armour walk down a set of stairs.
"I was told you would be here, to help these lowlifes survive. But I was expecting three, not five of you," he said as he moved to stand in front of the Asari and Turrian. "So, this is a gift from the Gods," as he spoke, he drew a sword. "Now which one of you is Shepard?"
No one moved forcing him to walk forward. "I asked, which one of you is Shepard?"
John looked to the others and sighed. "I'm Shepard," he said. "The others are my crewmates," That earned him the attention of the others but looks of shock and confusion from the crew. "If they say otherwise, it's because they want to protect me," that got a shocked look from the others.
"What in hell are you doing?" Yasuke asked.
"Shut it Kadien," John yelled shooting the Samurai a look saying 'stay out of this'. "Sorry, he has a bit of lip,"
The turrian chuckled as he squatted down. "Nice try," he said slapping John across the face. "I know that isn't Kadien Alenko, as I've met him," he growled.
"Really?" John smiled. "And how did a split face like you meet him? Were you begging for mercy? Like a dishonourable…" he got another slap but smiled as he turned to face the Turrian, bleeding at the mouth. "Hit a nerve did I split face?"
"You know nothing of honour," the turrian said as he backed up and removed his helm.
John, Shion and Yasuke froze at the sight of the man whom they had chased across the galaxy. Granted, he didn't have any cybernetics and wore blue and white face paint, but there was no mistaking those eyes.
"Saren," Shion growled. "I would ask how, but it's pretty damn clear you aren't from here,"
"You are quite astute, Shepard," he smiled looking at Yasuke, John and Shion. "But that is going to end," he said as he aimed his sword at John. "By the Order of the Spectral Light, I condemn yo…." He couldn't finish as a woman wearing black amour appeared from nowhere and kicked Seran in the face.
She landed with the grace of a gymnast and spun firing at the soldiers around the room. While it didn't kill them, it did allow the team to break free and take out their captors. As soon as he felt the smallest bit of weakness, John turned and slammed his omni-blade into his opponent beheading him. After kicking off the soldier he then turned and fired at one of the two under the hanging bodies as they moved to the woman.
But they were cut down by the three Shepards before they could fully draw their weapons. As they got up, Yasuke moved over to John, helping him but giving him an odd look.
"Why did you do that?" he asked, but John gave him a look and an unspoken agreement passed between the two of them.
All eyes then looked to the woman before them. Much like the soldiers around them, she wore medieval-style armour. But unlike the others, this armour was black with a pink stripe along the legs and arms. It also had spikes on the pauldrons and curved blades along the forearms. The helmet she wore was smooth and rounded with a white faceplate with no nose or mouth but eyes and a circular golden like that ran across the faceplate and armour. A pair of horns at proudly on her head. She looked fearsome, but right now she didn't move.
"Thanks, whoever you are," Shion said.
"I was only doing the duty my master assigned me," the woman said in a neutral, but familiar tone.
John blinked. "W…who are you?" he asked.
The warrior reached up to unclip her noseless mouthless helmet and pull it off. Long dark hair wrapped in a braid fell out. Her eyes were a blazing red with her pupil being reptilian. Her face was covered in similar circular tattoos like her armour. But there was no mistaking that look as John almost fell to his knees.
"A…Ashely?" he asked.
