Mass Effect: Genesis

[Tysyacha]

RESEARCH FACILITY--BIOENERGY CONTROL ROOM

 

((In which Quirinius V'tala will play her true "endgame" as a character.))

 

Quiri turned to the salarian once more, who was still attached to the wall.

 

"So, what do we do now? How do I break the tubing and set you free?"

 

You cannot. Asari! Hide! Even though my tympanic membranes have been severely damaged by electrical currents, I can still hear. There are footsteps approaching in our near vicinity. Quickly! Beneath that data console desk!

 

She dove underneath it, just in time to see a research station orderly enter: human male, early twenties. He was pushing a medical cart with an I.V.

 

"All right. Time for your intravenous fluids, you amphibious bastard," he said.

 

"Mmmmmmmalking cloaca!" the salarian mumbled through his wired jaw.

 

The orderly clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Manners, manners!" he chided. "Just think: I was about to give you your muscle relaxant with a little something special. Atropixenine, with additives, and now you get nothing."

 

Atropixenine with additives? Not a normal dose, then. Possibly poison.

 

The orderly spoke again. "Instead, you know what's going to be pumping through your worthless veins in a matter of seconds? An ultra-powerful stimulant that will let you feel every volt that courses through your brain! This will most likely kill you once the juice hits, but that's what the boss wants. You're all used up anyway, Ten, or on the brink of it." He shook his head. "Me? I'd just shoot you, but you still have a little bioenergy to tap."

 

He pushed the cart forward, his face a perfectly professional blank slate.

 

Oh, no, asari! Help me! That fool doesn't even notice your presence!

 

Quiri emerged from her hiding place and sprang to action. "Not so fast!"

 

"Wha--?" The orderly did the only thing he could think of the moment, throwing the full weight of the medical cart in Quiri's direction. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't dodge out of the way in time, and the heavy apparatus slammed right into her. She crumpled to the floor, fought and kicked, and was eventually subdued by a warm fluid....atropixenine...lulling her again.

 

When she awoke, she felt several cold things--tubes--enveloping her.

 

"I wondered why the wall was off," the orderly began with a wry smile. "I also wondered what gave Subject Ten the courage to call me a walking cloaca. In both cases, it seems to have been you," he said. "No matter. You're Subject Eleven. I released Ten from the wall. He's not going to get very far before our security guards shoot him down, but I gave him a running start. You should be proud." He picked up the remote that powered the wall console.

 

Quiri closed her eyes and sent a message from her consciousness to Tuhrop's.

 

Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out...Abort the mission. Now.

 

"What, are you actually meditating right now?" the assistant sneered. "Too bad there's nobody to 'embrace eternity' with, except for me." Licking his lips, he stepped forward to Quiri. "You want to? I'm not above a beautiful asari..."

 

"I'm above an ugly human," Quirinius replied icily. "Release me."

 

"You really think that's going to work? You have a TON of bioenergy in you."

 

"As soon as you use that remote, mister, my brain shall suffer an instant hemorrhage! I won't even give you ten volts. I'll die, and your boss is going to make you catch hell. The pain from this bioenergy wall is what brought me down here, anyway. I crawled through the ventilation ducts to find it, too."

 

Get out. Get out. I'm lost. Get out. Get out...

 

"Clever. Too bad all that brainpower is going into all this tubing, missy."

 

"It can certainly try. I'm warning you."

 

The orderly tightened his grip on the remote. Quiri sent one final message:

 

If you can, find Subject Ten. He'll tell you what happened. ...I'm sorry...

 

The orderly punched a button on the remote. Immediately, every fuse and light fixture in the entire research facility EXPLODED. That meant all was pitch-dark, and would be for several minutes until the emergency generators activated. That meant that, if they wanted to, the Captain and his crew would have precious time to try and escape from the research facility. With no power, none of the security locks were still engaged on any of the doors!

 

The personnel immediately started swearing, wondering what went wrong:

 

"Where the !#%@ is the !@$%ing power?!"

 

"Hell! The lights! Somebody turn the lights back on, or you're all DEAD!!!"

 

"The cells! Someone go to the cells, immediately! The subjects will escape!"

 

As anyone could see, chaos was reigning in the formerly orderly facility.

[Cyborg Ninja]

"Tom busy with interview, Rogue, this is Kallic - Any information for us?"

 

"Human:Neesa is working with Cerberus," Rogue replied.

 

Rogue pulled its rifle off of its back, and held it with one hand for the time being. Rogue kept the other free in case it needed to continue conversation with Kallic.

 

Suddenly the lights went out, and the terminal shut off. Rogue stepped out into the hallway to see that it too was dark. It seemed the entire facility might be experiencing a power outage. Rogue had no trouble seeing through the dark, but it knew the humans were not as fortunate.

 

"Requesting permission to retrieve Human:Tom from his interview," Rogue said into its omni-tool once more.

[DrPhil2501]

Tom slowly regained all his senses together, after the tranquilizer weared off abit. He raised his head in time to see the Cerberus bitch walk out the door, not before giving her collegues a set of instructions before she left.

 

One of the interrogators approached Tom. "Sorry we have to do this to you, but I'm afraid its necesary."

 

"Necasary for what?" Tom replied, sternly.

 

"Secrecy must be kept. We cannot allow the Systems Alliance to learn of Project Genesis. This must also be kept silenced to the general public, and the only way we can ensure that is to eliminate witnesses. Starting with you, the one who found the data in the first place."

 

Tom clenched his fists. He couldnt use his biotics. Smart move by Cerberus - they must have temporarily disabled his amp. But all of a sudden, the lights to the room went out. The emergency red light illuminated the room dimly. The interrogator spoke to the two way mirror.

 

"Status Report of the Facility!" he barked.

 

"Uh, it appears to be a power failure. Emergency Systems should be online within a few minutes."

 

___________________________________________________________________

 

Tuhrop heard the conversation between Kallic and Rogue. Most troubling - he had his suspicions on Hawking, but he was a little suprised it was Neesa, the "personal assistant". They were probably going to take them out one at a time, starting with Tom.

 

Tom could be in serious danger. "We have to go rescue Tom. Hopefully they need him alive in order to--"

 

He could hear Quirinius' voice. "Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out...Abort the mission. Now."

 

He turned around. Nobody was there. "If you can, find Subject Ten. He'll tell you what happened. ...I'm sorry..."

 

"Subject Ten?" Tuhrop echoed. He hit his head, seeing if he could snap out of it. All of a sudden, the lights to the room went out. "Well, that makes things easy for us." Tuhrop walked over to the door, and opened it. The power failure must have deactivated all security locks.

 

"Lets look for Tom. Keep an eye out for Quiri as well." And this Subject 10, if I'm not going crazy.

[Tysyacha]

PITCH-DARK RESEARCH FACILITY--INTERIOR

 

Subject Ten was an excellent sprinter. He could run like the wind despite his twenty years--middle age for one of his species. In his childhood and youth, he'd often played a game with his friends called "Run, Salarian, Run." It was a scenario of revenge. His compatriots had all gleefully pretended to be krogan--the "hitters", who were trying to assassinate the one salarian primarily responsible for the genophage--the "runner". Subject Ten had always volunteered to be the runner, but he was refused more often than not.

 

That was because, when he was the runner, his "hitter" friends lost every time. None of them could even hope to catch him because of all the diving and zigzagging that he did through their enemy lines. Subject Ten loved it!

 

He didn't like this at all. There was far too much danger afoot, and besides, in the darkness he couldn't even see the exits because there were no signs illuminating them! Nevertheless, he continued on through the black corridors of the facility, filled with panicking people and hidden machinery.

 

Amidst all the swearing and bickering going on, he discerned this outburst:

 

"What the hell happened? Answer me! Don't just clam up like an idiot!"

 

A timid voice responded, "I--I think it was Keith's fault. You know, the BWO?"

 

"Bioenergy Wall Orderly?" Surprise, and then dismay. "That dumb@$$. I should have known he'd screw things up sooner or later, with the probability leaning more toward 'sooner'! What'd he do, push all the buttons on the remote?" A heavy sigh. "No. Not even Keith is stupid enough to do that."

 

"Right." A pause. "I know the boss told him to terminate Subject Ten, because let's face it--he's all used up. His brain's so fried he can't even remember his own name." In the darkness, Subject Ten smiled briefly. "If I know Keith, he did as instructed and then found a Subject Eleven too fast."

 

"What? Where?!" The other person was furious. "That can't be right!"

 

"That's the only thing that could have possibly caused this to happen. The power didn't just 'go out', as it would during one of the ubiquitous storms on this island. Every single light fixture, data console, heavy machine, heater--everything that depends on a source of bioenergy, which is the only source of power in here besides the backup generators--EXPLODED. That doesn't happen unless someone with WAY too much bioenergy got put into the wall at the last minute." Another heavy sigh. "Keith would do something like that."

 

"!@$*." The other person punched the timid bearer of bad tidings, who gave a grunt of pain. "As soon as the power comes back on, we're going to check that wall. Together. If there's ANYONE in there besides Subject Ten, then you're the one who's going to get it. Not me. I'm going to tell the boss you told Keith--if he's still here, the worthless moron--to find a Subject Eleven."

 

"No! You can't do this to me! We're best friends, not only co-workers, Juxon!"

 

"If it's your @$$ or mine that gets shot, I'd rather it be yours. No offense."

 

Somewhere nearby in the darkness, did a certain turian's mandibles twitch?

 

Subject Ten couldn't tell. All he could sense was a tall and crested shadow...

[Master_Archon]

"Human:Neesa is working with Cerberus," came the surprising, yet ominous news.

 

"Mmm," was all Kallic muttered as his brow furrowed ever so slightly at this news.

 

"Requesting permission to retrieve Human:Tom from his interview," Rogue asked over the com.

 

"We have to go rescue Tom. Hopefully they need him alive in order to--" The Captain said aloud, pausing suddenly, looking about as if trying to find someone, then smacking his head like a bug was on it, muttering, "Subject Ten?"

 

Kallic raised a concerned eyebrow at this but continued his task of communicating with Rogue. But before anyone knew it the entire room went dark causing Kallic to stop before he'd even started continuing said duty. The Captain uttering, "Well, that makes things easy for us."

 

"Lets look for Tom. Keep an eye out for Quiri as well." The Captain said to them after opening the door to the room, Kallic nodding and turning back to his Omni-Tool to finally respond.

 

"You heard that Rogue? We're heading out to find Tom, suggest looking for Quirinius instead; can perform infiltration on this end, Mmm...Myself," Kallic told Rogue, knowing that splitting the bill between the separate entities would be smarter and save them all time; after all, they couldn't have taken Tom far in such a short period of time, and Kallic was experienced in 'espionage'-like tactics, finding him wouldn't be that difficult - Quirinius was another matter as she could quite literally be anywhere, and Rogue seemed perfect for finding her in the poor conditions the facility was in right now.

 

Almost as an immediate afterthought Kallic proceeded to say something else to Rogue before ending communications, "Avoid casualties Rogue, facility still Alliance and most of the personnel with it, stealth best for you still. But if caught, go for knockouts and crippling strikes, no killing - please; security just doing their jobs."

 

With that Kallic deactivated his Omni-Tool and ended communications on his end, moving up next to the Captain, "Ideas, sir? Or are we, as the human saying goes, 'flying-by-the-seat-of-our-pants'?"

[Cyborg Ninja]

"You heard that Rogue? We're heading out to find Tom, suggest looking for Quirinius instead; can perform infiltration on this end, Mmm...Myself," Kallic told the geth.

 

"Acknowledged," Rogue responded.

 

The still invisible geth proceeded down the hallway with ease. Rogue kept its rifle in its arms as it moved silently. Rogue stopped when it reached a door it had to hack earlier. It was about to hack it again, when the door simply opened. It seemed the blackout did something to the security as well.

 

"Avoid casualties Rogue, facility still Alliance and most of the personnel with it, stealth best for you still. But if caught, go for knockouts and crippling strikes, no killing - please; security just doing their jobs."

 

It seemed risky, but the salarian probably knew best. It had learned different fighting styles from the different organic races. If Rogue was attacked, it could easily attack without killing.

 

"Very well, safeties will be engaged," Rogue responded.

 

Rogue placed the rifle on its back once more. It didn't know how Quirnius got separated from the group, but the asari wouldn't be too hard to find in a mostly human facility.

[DrPhil2501]

"Ideas, sir? Or are we, as the human saying goes, 'flying-by-the-seat-of-our-pants'?"

 

Tuhrop activated his omni-tool and switched the Torch Mode on, which illuminated the darkness. "We'll have to be quick, and cautious." Tuhrop added. "We dont have any weapons, so our Biotic Specialists will have to surround the party... which only leaves Zack, because one is in captivity and the other has skuddled someplace else."

 

Tuhrop approached Zack. "Are you up for the task, Zack? Once we get Tom, you wont need to be under too much preasure. Hopefully they'll have sometype of armory next to the interrogation chambers aswell."

 

Tuhrop walked into the darkness of the very dim hallway.

[Cyborg Ninja]

"Are you up for the task, Zack? Once we get Tom, you wont need to be under too much preasure. Hopefully they'll have sometype of armory next to the interrogation chambers aswell."

 

Zack chuckled to himself, amused by Tuhrop's question. Sure he had to cover the whole party, but he could knock any human back that attacked the group. Getting to hurt his own race always made him happy.

 

"I can handle it no problem," Zack said eagerly.

 

He followed Tuhrop down the hallway, and began channeling biotic energy into his arms. A shockwave might be too deadly, slam was just as deadly, and he didn't want to use an entire charge. Then again these guys might be armed...he'd go with a pull throw combo then.

[DrPhil2501]

((Hey Tysyacha, just re-reading over your post. I assume the "twitching mandibles" belong to.... Tuhrop? :/ ))

 

The group ventured along the dark corridors, relying on their Omni-Tool Flash Lights. Every now and then did a security mech approach the group, enchanting "Hostiles Detected."

 

Possibly reprogrammed.. maybe not. But Zack seemed to have no trouble dealing with them.

 

Tuhrop twitched his mandibles, as he saw a dark figure snooping around the hall. His flashlight revealed a half naked Salarian standing with cold feet. There seemed to be some puncture markings around his limbs.

 

"...Hello?" Tuhrop added. He wondered if he was a prisoner of the facility. "What are you doing out here?"

[Tysyacha]

PITCH-DARK RESEARCH FACILITY--INTERIOR

 

((Yeah, that was what I meant. Sorry if I sounded presumptuous there.))

 

The salarian swallowed hard. "Subject Ten," he said. "Experimental specimen. Bioenergy wall overload--far too much output. Asari--asari dead. Cerebral cortex hemorrhage." He shook his head. "She came to find me. Rescue me. Perhaps bioenergy wall was causing her intense intercranial agony. Not sure."

 

He gazed into Captain Tuhrop's eyes. "Bioenergy wall means sentient beings are turned into living batteries. I was the last, before the asari. Wanted to release me, but proved impossible. I regret that she is gone. Was my hero."

 

All of a sudden, with an ominous whirrrrr, the power came back on...

 

...and twenty to thirty astonished personnel gaped at Subject Ten.

 

He almost wet his pants. "RRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNN!" he screamed before fleeing. Drawing their own weapons, the research staff opened fire.

[Cyborg Ninja]

Zack was finally enjoying being in this underground base. He was amusing himself with the security mechs that tried to stop them. He loved how they always said the same sentence, and right after they finished he would hit them with a biotic slam. Then however it seemed one single salarian had decided to take it upon himself to ruin Zach's good time.

 

"Great we lose the hot one for you?!?!" Zack asked, completely bummed he wouldn't get to sleep with her.

 

The human received a punch to the arm from Chiron for that remark. To add to their luck it seemed the lights had come back on...and now there were twenty some guards pointing their weapons at the group. The salarian took off and the guards started to open fire. Zack shields could take some hits, but he need to do something quick. He charged up some biotic energy, as he kept an eye on his shields via his helmet's HUD. He then released a powerful biotic shockwave at the armed personal.

_________________________________________________________________

 

Rogue continued its search for the missing asari. Stealth was incredibly easy for the geth as it moved down different hallways with ease. It helped that it could see in the dark, was cloaked, and humans could not see in the dark without assistance. The geth began to search room by room for the crew's newest member.

 

Finally the Rogue stepped into the last room in the current hallway it was searching. As it stepped inside the room, the lights turned back on. Even though the lights were on, Rogue knew it had found Quirinius in the dark. It was reading no signs of life from the asari. The asari could have been drugged again, or more likely was dead. Rogue moved over to the terminal and immediately got to work.

 

It seemed there was a bioenergy wall that must have been overloaded during the blackout...perhaps it might have been the cause. Lucky for the geth the wall was not there, making it much easier to hack. Within a few minutes it finished and was able to get Qurinius down. It caught her body as it lifelessly fell. Rogue knew that organics would bury their fallen comrades and figured the crew might want to do the same. It also closed the asari's eyes, something organics also preferred to do.

 

"Salarian:Kallic come in. I have located Asari:Quirinius, and I regret she is deceased. Do you wish to "bury" her?" Rogue asked unaware of the group's current situation.

[DrPhil2501]

"Bioenergy wall means sentient beings are turned into living batteries. I was the last, before the asari. Wanted to release me, but proved impossible. I regret that she is gone. Was my hero."

 

Tuhrop was disturbed by the Salarians explanation; the thought that Quiri was strapped to one of those things just proved how demented Cerberus had become. Was the shady organisation the one really incharge of the facility? Or was this all kept top secret, even the security and staff members didnt know about it.

 

Wasnt important. What was important was rescuing his crewmembers from certain danger. Not only that, as soon as the power came back on the squad was surrounded by armed forces.

 

Zack knocked down a few guards with his biotics. "TAKE THEIR WEAPONS!" Tuhrop barked. Tuhrop dodged some fire and managed to grab a fallen guards M-3 Predator. Basic weaponry, but atleast they could stand their ground.

 

"Salarian:Kallic come in. I have located Asari:Quirinius, and I regret she is deceased. Do you wish to "bury" her?" Tuhrop overheard. Or hoping the mixure of gun fire and biotics muffled some of the words.

 

"Dead?" Tuhrop grunted. "I'll believe that when I see it. Tell Rogue to stand-by and give us his current location."

[Tysyacha]

RESEARCH FACILITY--BIOENERGY WALL CONTROL ROOM

 

((SNIP! I got a little carried away here. Make that a LOT carried away! See below...))

[Master_Archon]

((Ok, unless I'm retarded, I think you should change your post Tysy; Cyborg already had Rogue get Quiri's body off the wall and in his arms by the time these two "character" of yours came in. So I'd recommend slowing yourself down with this unexplained tangent here, and changing the above post, otherwise, Kallic will kill both of them and retrieve Quiri's body...Soooooo, yeah. -_-; ))

 

Kallic had been scanning out information within the fallen security mechs to gather data on the location of the missing crew members, primarily Tom; he'd been piecing together strings of data when he caught the middle of an explanation from a stray, random salarian they'd found in the middle of a human facility. "Experimental specimen. Bioenergy wall overload--far too much output. Asari--asari dead. Cerebral cortex hemorrhage. She came to find me. Rescue me. Perhaps bioenergy wall was causing her intense intercranial agony. Not sure."

 

"Experiments? Alliance controlled facility, highly unlikely, salarian government would know, especially with such poorly guarded place as this. Would have stopped it long ago, or....Requisitioned new human counselor to stop such heinous actions. Cerberous maybe, but still unlikely, known for their seclusion and privacy, wouldn't be dumb enough to use Alliance facility as a front, like I said, salarian government could infiltrate and learn too much, Cerberous too careful for that and certainly wouldn't want that, Illusive Man.....Illusive. Too careful to make those mistakes, none of this....Mmm, sensible," Kallic analyzed eying the other salarian in the dark warily.

 

"Great we lose the hot one for you?!?!" Zack commented off to the side, Chiron punching him in the arm for the remark, Kallic proceeded to do likewise, only to the mercenary's gut instead, giving him a deathly sour look all the while.

 

The strange salarian stared at the Captain. "Bioenergy wall means sentient beings are turned into living batteries. I was the last, before the asari. Wanted to release me, but proved impossible. I regret that she is gone. Was my hero."

 

Upon hearing Quiri was supposedly dead Kallic's eyes grew wide but quickly shut, his head lowering and shaking sadly "Sad waste of life.....Coward! If she was hero, should have saved her, attempted to at least!" Kallic spat at his fellow salarian angrily, his hand balling into a fist, swinging it at the experimental subject's head but stopping short as the power sparked back on, lights filling the corridor and sending Kallic into a brief daze as his eyes adjusted. Just like the title he had just given him, the other salarian ran at the sight of a large group of armed guards: "Coward," Kallic muttered as he watched him flee, wishing for all the world that his fist had connected.

 

"TAKE THEIR WEAPONS!" Captain Tuhrop shouted out as Zack had proceeded to defend the group with his biotics, disabling a few of the guards. Kallic was right in front of a guard when he pointed his pistol at him, Kallic thus proceeded to disarm him: moving close to the man quickly he reached out with his right hand, grabbing the back of the M-3 Predator still in the hands of the guard who held it, the former STG Operative pivoted his body around the opposite direction of the gun arm, wrapping his left arm under the man's own left arm, all while ripping the gun from his foe's hand and pulling the man down sideways, bringing the gun into his hand and down into the man's now exposed ribcage. In this instance the man would have taken a shot straight to the heart from under his arm, but Kallic still felt that killing these men wasn't right, he had no knowledge of whether they were Cerberous or not and he didn't rightly like the idea of killing people who were only doing their jobs, if they were Alliance personnel that is. So Kallic proceeded to maneuver just a little and pistol whip the man in the back of the head, knocking him out cold.

 

Kallic dropped the unconscious man, whipping around to face the group of guards he fired a Cryo Blast at one, snap freezing him in place, and firing four times at two other guards, one shot per leg, dropping the men where they stood. Rushing forward he disarmed them where they lay in pain, throwing their retrieved weapons towards his comrades, and thus out of reach of the other guards. Kallic heard the comm relay activate, making the salarian pull back behind safer lines so the others could hear.

 

"Salarian:Kallic come in. I have located Asari:Quirinius, and I regret she is deceased. Do you wish to "bury" her?" Kallic shut his eyes and bit his lip at the confirmation of the other salarian's news from the Geth. "Such a waste....Warned her, helped her, wouldn't listen, wouldn't learn.....So young..." Kallic muttered, shaking his head and opening his eyes, a few stray shots hit his personal shields, he returned fire, disarming a guard with his shots: there was certainly a reason he was a sniper after all, and he was proving it.

 

"Dead? I'll believe that when I see it. Tell Rogue to stand-by and give us his current location." The Captain chimed in over the gunfire and abilities going off all over the hallway. Kallic blinked as he processed these words and a slight smile came to his face, he liked how sensible the Captain could be. "Agree, can't believe she's dead so easily, not until confirmed with our own eyes, still, if she is dead, better to bring her body with us. Might even be.....Fixable," Kallic affirmed with the turian, turning his attention back to the comm relay.

 

"Rogue, give us your current location, then proceed to hold position - stay undetected, and protect the body. Confirmed?" He issued out the Captain's orders over the comm relay to Rogue, even firing off another Cryo Blast at a guard and snap freezing him as well while doing so.

[DrPhil2501]

"Rogue, give us your current location, then proceed to hold position - stay undetected, and protect the body. Confirmed?"

 

"We still need to grab Tom." Tuhrop reminded everyone. He fired a bullet in the head a mech. "Proceed onward."

 

The squad continued through the hall, firing at mechs and any guards that came in the way. Along the way, Kallics words echoed within Tuhrop's head. It could have been Cerberus behind this mess, but would they really be this sloppy?

 

They finally reached the Interogation Chambers. Tuhrop leaned against the wall, gun his hand. He eyed the door, then back at the crew. Giving them a look that said "Cover Me!".

 

Tuhrop reached for the button, to open the door. As it slid open, something immediatly flung out. It was a fallen guard, than had leftover eezo disintigrating off of him. A glowing figure walked from dark chambers; a young man with glowing tech armor, and an aura of biotic energy.

 

Tom approached the guard angrily, showing no mercy. He delivered a powerful biotic shockwave, which sent the guard over the railing to the levels below. Tom looked over the railing. "Have a nice trip..."

 

Tuhrop froze, looking confused. "Ulrich?... How did you esca--" The Turian was cut off when he saw another figure step out of the doorway. It was Hawking, the head of security.

 

"I am truelly astonished that a child his age could master biotics so skillfully." Hawking added. Tom glared back at Hawking.

 

"I aint a kid anymore."

 

Hawking glanced at the Turian captain, his showing a straight-to-business face. "There is no time to waste; this facility has gone rogue, and we need to save your friend before time runs short."

[Tysyacha]

RESEARCH FACILITY INTERIOR--CATWALK

 

When chaos reigned, one staff member at the facility always held fast.

 

When all hell was breaking loose, one staff member controlled the inferno.

 

When shots were being fired point-blank, one staff member always sniped...

 

It was this one's specifically-appointed task--not only that, but her destiny when apocalyptic screw-ups came down the pipe. Thus, she crouched on the catwalk, waiting for orders. She looked just like any ordinary member of the research staff, except for one thing: the Vdova, her pride and joy.

 

"Velian?" Her comm signal came to life. "Why aren't you firing?"

 

Idiot, thought Diana Cassindra of the research facility. "No worthwile targets," she whispered as softly as she dared. "Direct me. Who to shoot?"

 

"'Whom', dear. You're getting sloppy, Velian, at least when it comes to proper grammar! See all those people down there? Take your pick!"

 

"I can't just 'take my pick', especially without arousing too much suspicion."

 

"Are you kidding me? You really are losing your edge! Take out the turian!"

 

Indeed: he looked "worthwhile", but what was he doing here anyway? Diana was much more interested in what a certain group was discussing down below. Apparently, the research facility's bioenergy wall--which Diana herself had helped to engineer--had been blown to smithereens. Some moron had apparently tried to replace its current power source with a more powerful one, and had destroyed her precious creation when the power source had blown every other damn power source in the entire facility! He'd pay...

 

Watching the scene from one of the research facility's many catwalks, Diana suddenly saw a man in laboratory gear rushing around and swearing loudly.

 

Keith. Her eyes narrowed. I never did trust you. Good night...

 

She aimed Vdova right for his head and fired a silencing shot. Success!

 

The comm signal: "What the hell? Who did you just assassinate, Velian?"

 

"Whom, dear. His name is Keith, and he destroyed my bioenergy wall."

 

"Our bioenergy wall! Don't get distracted! Follow Hawking and the rest from your vantage point on the catwalk. There's some nasty, nasty s*** going down here, and I don't want our 'visitors' getting out alive. Got me?" A pause. "If they do, this facility is going to lose a perfectly good sniper."

 

"Got it." Diana started moving farther along down the catwalk, watching...

[Cyborg Ninja]

"Rogue, give us your current location, then proceed to hold position - stay undetected, and protect the body. Confirmed?"

 

"Acknowledged. I am located in the room of Subject Ten, and I am currently uploading my exact coordinates to your omni-tool."

 

Rogue heard the sound of gunfire from beyond the door. It was certain the personal here would come in the room at some point. Rogue was still under orders not to kill, so it would not use its rifle.

 

The sound of footsteps were drawing closer. The geth looked down at the asari it was cradling in its arms. It moved to a corner of the room and gently placed the body on the floor. A small humming noise was heard and Rogue was visible once more.

 

"Go!" Came a male human voice before the door was opened.

 

Four guards armed with standard heavy pistols entered the room. The leader turned to see an asari in a corner...a geth pulse rifle in her arms. The leader was ready to order his team to open fire when he felt a sharp pain in his spine. He fell to the ground and looked up to see a glowing blue eye staring at him. Before he could mutter the word geth, a foot came down on his face knocking him out.

 

Another human got ready to fire his pistol at the geth. Rogue grabbed the human's left arm and twisted it. He chopped down on the human's arm, breaking it upon contact. Rogue threw the human over its back into another human. The geth turned and back handed the gun out of the woman's hands. The geth picked the human up by her arms and brought her closer to it. Rogue hit the human's head with its own, knocking her out as well.

 

The dark skinned male had recovered from being hit with his own comrade. He spotted a pistol and went to reach for it, only to have his arm stepped on by the machine. He looked up at his attacker after letting out a cry of pain.

 

"Rot in hell machine," the human said before meeting the same fate as the leader.

________________________________________________________________

 

Chiron and Zach each took a pistol after Kallic tossed them the weapons. Zach had forgotten the salarian was just as deadly in close quarters as he was with a sniper; his gut was still recovering from the hit he received. He moved with the group, hitting whatever he could along the way. He then looked to Tuhrop who wanted to make a run for the door. Zack was about to make a move when Chiron lifted a security mech. With a mighty roar the krogan threw it at the guards in cover, buying the captain enough time.

 

"There is no time to waste; this facility has gone rogue, and we need to save your friend before time runs short."

 

"Try not to fall behind then old man," Zack said as he used his biotic slam on another mech.

[DrPhil2501]

"Try not to fall behind then old man,"

 

"Dont get distracted and wonder off." Hawking retorted. He proceeded along the hall. Tuhrop walked next to him.

 

"I take it you are not cerberus?" Tuhrop cleared off. Hawking sniffed with amusement.

 

"Hardly." He replied in his raspy voice. "Undercover Systems Alliance agent. I was a sent a few months back to investigate this particular facility. We were receiving rather... vague updates on their progress."

 

While talking, Hawking shot an approaching mech from a distance. "We knew about the experimentation with bioenergy, but they left out quite a few significant details. Nothing to do with Cerberus, but they have placed a Sleeper Agent within the facility to keep an eye on their controversial progess."

 

A guard seemingly came from out of nowhere and aimed a rifle in Hawking's face. But Hawking grabbed the gun, smacked it in the guards face and knocked him down. "Only a portion of the security team are loyal to me. The rest have been... corrupted. So to speak."

[Tysyacha]

"You're tracking them well," came the voice via Diana's intercom. "Good. Keep on them. Hawking's a...person of interest, although not yet a liability. Still don't know which side he's on. Can be bribed, if he survives." A brief yet sinister pause. Diana's heart skipped. "Remember the rhyme."

 

She shivered. "The data gets wiped, and the sniper gets sniped..."

 

..."thus, if all goes wrong, walls with blood will be striped. Keep that in mind."

 

Shaking her head, Diana crept forward along the catwalk. All of a sudden, she saw what looked like the body of an asari in one of the targets' arms.

 

A very familiar asari.

 

Quirinius V'tala? The assassin took a deep breath. You've got to be kidding me! The last time I saw her was years ago, and now she's...dead? How did she even get over here and into this highly-classified facility? I mean--it's just impossible. It cannot be! Yet, there it is, and I have to make my next move. If this really is my former lover, I want the body. It'll be useful for research purposes, especially since her eezo nodules may still be intact.

 

After that, I'll bury her. I'm not completely without a heart, you know.

 

"Velian?" The voice-com crackled. "Velian? Do you copy?"

 

"I copy." Her body tensed up.

 

"Where are they headed?"

 

"I don't know. Hot labs, maybe. I'll keep an eye out, sir."

 

"You'd better, or you're dead meat."

 

As if I didn't already know...

[Master_Archon]

((I sense a sniper battle brewing.....Hmmmm? Too bad Kallic doesn't have a sniper on him. Oh well, a pistol's good enough for him! ))

 

"We still need to grab Tom. Proceed onward." The Captain ordered the crew as they pushed their way down the hall.

 

The Captain eyed the group with a well known look of 'Gimme Cover!', he proceeded to enter a room, Kallic activating his I.V.I.-Drone which proceeded to 'distract' a group of guards and mechs that were in the open, while Chiron threw a downed mech at a group that were in cover, their efforts giving the Captain time to do what was needed.

 

The door opening to reveal Tom in all his angry glory, flinging a guard over the railing, muttering, "Have a nice trip..."

 

"Ulrich?... How did you esca--" The Captain asked, but stopped short as the man called Hawking entered the hallway after Tom, answering the question in itself.

 

"I am truly astonished that a child his age could master biotics so skillfully." The man seemingly complimented.

 

"I ain't a kid anymore." Tom quipped, Kallic rolling his eyes at his crew mate's touchiness.

 

Hawking continued, speaking to the Captain, "There is no time to waste; this facility has gone rogue, and we need to save your friend before time runs short."

 

"Try not to fall behind then old man," Kallic heard Zack comment off to the side, destroying another mech in the process. Kallic did similar, pulling out from behind cover he let out a shot, blowing a mech's head off as it tromped down the hall towards them.

 

"I take it you are not Cerberus?" The Captain asked Hawking as they proceeded down the hall. The push towards Rogue was getting heated and Kallic had just noticed something he was surprised he hadn't noticed before, a high ceiling with catwalks, not something the salarian liked to see indeed.

 

Kallic ejected a thermal clip while behind cover, gunfire and abilities going off in both directions as the group pushed down the hallway. He was just about to come out of cover when something caught his sense-of-sound, a very distinct and well-known sound to the former salarian STG Operative; a sniper shot. In the ensuing combat it was something that blended in well with all the chaos and he wasn't surprised at all that he himself had barely isolated it from the commotion. Kallic immediately pulled up his Omni-Tool and checked the nearby crew vitals.....All green, the salarian sighed a breath of relief that his comrades were all alive and whole. He peered around from cover to glimpse the hallway, noticing almost immediately a - what he could guess - technician of some sort lying on the ground, blood pooling out from around his head, another recognizable sign for the salarian sniper. He decided to act like he hadn't noticed the shot being fired and followed his crew mates so as not to tip the sniper off in any big way; briefly stooping down to check the technician where he lay. Clean, precise, minute entry, smooth exit, no grey matter 'splash', a remarkable job Kallic would say, maybe not a professional one, but a remarkably good one none-the-less. A quick glance at the wound was all Kallic needed to tell which angle it had come in at; upwards, from the catwalks.

 

He trotted up from behind, catching up to the group, listening in on the exchange while activating his Omni-Tool. "Hardly. Undercover Systems Alliance agent. I was a sent a few months back to investigate this particular facility. We were receiving rather... vague updates on their progress." Hawking answered, Kallic nodding and glancing over, he remarked:

 

"Thought this place was too sloppy to begin with. Definitely less likely chance that it was Cerberus, they would have insured no suspicions from the Alliance if it was them, would have given good clean reports, put up a better facade than this to deceive Alliance....Mmm, yes, thinking rogue group more likely now, or rogue Cerberus cell is also a possibility."

 

Hawking shot an approaching mech from a distance, Kallic nodding at his precision. "We knew about the experimentation with bioenergy, but they left out quite a few significant details. Nothing to do with Cerberus, but they have placed a Sleeper Agent within the facility to keep an eye on their controversial progress."

 

Kallic finished with his Omni-Tool, sending a message through the intercrew paging system that they had: 'Be warned, high powered weapon in vicinity; sniper likely, keep eyes on the catwalks!'

 

Hawking disabled a guard that rounded a corner on him, commenting, "Only a portion of the security team are loyal to me. The rest have been... corrupted. So to speak."

 

"So-to-speak? Questioning the idea of this, 'corruption', but feasible answer none-the-less, seeing as a lot of guards are firing at us, still, don't like the idea of killing men I don't know for certain are my real enemy or not; will retain disabling techniques only for personal discretion." Kallic responded to this, proceeding to shoot a gun out of a guard's hands and quickly close the distance, smashing his pistol upside the man's head, knocking him out cold.

 

After this Kallic proceeded to open up the relay to Rogue, as he knew the Geth didn't have it's Omni-Tool linked to the crew's paging system yet. "Rogue, do you copy? Be warned, dangerous assailant about, sniper, keep ocular systems on the entry and exit points, but primarily on catwalks above. Do you copy?" He spoke quietly into the relay, his head straight down so as to keep anyone watching through a scope from reading his lips. When he was done he looked up and nodded at the Captain and crew and walked over to the Captain and Hawking, speaking in a low voice, "Should I go up? If so, how do I gain entry?"

[Tysyacha]

RESEARCH FACILITY INTERIOR--CATWALK

 

"Engaging stealth cloak." Diana pressed a small button on her discreet metal wrist console, rendering her invisible to the naked eye. It was top-secret Cerberus research, and only the best and most loyal of employees were allowed to use it. "Following." She continued on down the catwalk silently.

 

"Velian?" A crackling pause. "Listen to me. In the room up ahead, where everyone seems to be moving toward, there are several waste ventilation ducts. That room is for dangerous surgeries and experiments, especially on test subjects. Once they're all inside, I want you to flip a switch on the catwalk console to reverse the anesthesia fume hoods."

 

She was confused. "Huh? Won't that just put them to sleep?"

 

"And make them easier to pick off from above, one by one."

 

"Got it. Approaching anesthesia console controls now." She turned off the comlink. Once she had reached her target, she waited. Get inside...

[Cyborg Ninja]

Chiron glanced at his omni-tool and read the message Kallic had sent. This would confirm the headless body the krogan spotted a few feet back. Chiron made sure to remain calm and act like he had no idea there was a sniper at all. He knew if Kallic was acting that way, then he wanted the others to do the same. Most of the guards were carrying pistols, it seemed odd there would be a sniper. Perhaps it was someone with Cerberus instead.

___________________________________________________________________

 

Another guard dared to enter into the bioenergy room. He pointed his gun around the room looking for any signs of life. A faint humming noise was heard followed by a crack. Before the human knew what happened he dropped to the floor unconscious.

"Rogue, do you copy? Be warned, dangerous assailant about, sniper, keep ocular systems on the entry and exit points, but primarily on catwalks above. Do you copy?"

 

"I copy, and I will do as commanded.You have my thanks for the warning Salarian:Kallic," Rogue responded into his omni-tool.

 

Oddly enough, the geth took a moment longer than usual to respond. It had checked the surrounding area before entering this room. Upon hearing there was a sniper it checked for heat signatures once more. Once again Rogue got nothing on the catwalks above. Something must be interfering with its systems. Luckily Rogue could watch both the catwalk and the door. Rogue picked up its pulse rifle and stood in front of Quriri's body; protecting it as ordered.

[DrPhil2501]

"Should I go up? If so, how do I gain entry?" the Salarian asked subtly. Hawking looked above at the catwalks.

 

"There is a maintenance elevator near-by." Hawking replied. "It should take you up to the catwalks, but this could be used to our advantage: assuming there is a sniper."

 

"Alright, lets keep moving." Tuhrop insisted. But he was suddenly interupted.

 

"Wait..." Hawking eyed the hall, where there was a room up ahead before their target destination. "There is a room up ahead that we have to cross." he whispered. "It has ventiliation shafts that will emit a sleeping gas."

 

Tuhrop looked up ahead. "I understand." The Turian looked at Tom and Kalick. "Take the elevator. We'll create a diversion."

 

Tom nodded.

[Master_Archon]

"There is a maintenance elevator near-by." Hawking said first. "It should take you up to the catwalks, but this could be used to our advantage: assuming there is a sniper."

 

"Alright, lets keep moving." The Captain urged.

 

"Wait..." Hawking cut in, whispering, "There is a room up ahead that we have to cross. It has ventilation shafts that will emit a sleeping gas."

 

"Anesthesia?...Mmm, lab, maybe?" Kallic muttered in analysis of Hawking's words.

 

Captain Tuhrop shifted his sights to the two techs in the group at the moment. "I understand. Take the elevator. We'll create a diversion."

 

Kallic glanced over at his assigned comrade, who simply nodded at the Captain's orders. Kallic worked best alone in counter-sniper ops, but he could work with and use the added firepower of his comrade for this situation, especially seeing as how the group only had pistols at the moment. Though Kallic had nothing against pistols, to the contrary they were highly accurate and versatile to use in comparison to other weapons; he even liked to call them hand-held snipers they could be so precise, but there was an inherent difference in the capabilities and uses of that of a high-powered sniper rifle and a heavy pistol, especially the simpler M-3 Predator: Higher fire rate, a smidgen less accuracy, and far less power behind each shot in comparison to other heavy pistols most certainly - but it made up for that by having the greatest versatility of almost all other pistols, only trumped by the M-4 Shuriken, a Submachine Gun or Machine Pistol and not within the same classification of that of Heavy Pistols, though still a favored weapon of Kallic's, thus the reason he used two....If only he had them now.

 

Kallic motioned Tom over with a jerk of his head as he let the others move ahead to set up for the diversion, nodding at Tom as the two of them fell behind until they finally broke away from the group and headed off towards the elevator.

 

Once they were both in and slowly heading up Kallic looked over at Tom with a serious face, asking, "Tom, have any experience executing counter-sniper ops, or, with snipers for that matter.....Mmm, other than me, and Thiyan?"

 

It was important for the salarian to know how much the young man knew about snipers and how to deal with them, they are often one of the deadliest foes one can face in certain situations, this being one of them; and on a one-on-one, or even two-on-one in this case, they could be very slippery. Kallic didn't want Tom getting killed because of poor judgment due to the man's own inexperience, or from false assumptions made by Kallic himself about what Tom knew.

[DrPhil2501]

Tom thought back to some previous experiences where he had a gun pointed to his face. "I'm more used to pistols and shotguns. I'm more used to avoiding snipers... like that time we were collecting a bounty on that Turian Merc back on Aey'ra. Man that was brutal..."

 

Tom smacked a clip into his pistol. "I think the captain wanted me to accompany you for my biotics. I suppose its an effective way to learn from experience."

 

The elevator stopped at the above maintenance level, where the two comrades stepped onto the metal catwalk. Tom hid behind one of the support pillars.

 

_____________________________________________________

 

Tuhrop and the rest of his squad continued towards the hazardous room. "And just what did you have in mind for a distraction?" Hawking whispered.

 

Tuhrop unholstered his gun and pointed it at the catwalk above. He fired his pistol rapidly at random spots. It was too dark up there to make out any form of snipers. Hawking breathed a sigh.

 

"Well, I suppose that should grab the snipers attention from triggering the vents."