Shadow of the Reaper | By : DarkWolves Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 10432 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0 |
Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect and I make no money making this. |
Chapter 1: Laser Battlezone V
The door to the luxury Citadel apartment silently whooshed open, two Alliance naval officers stumbling in to shatter the looming silence, dressed in the navy blue fatigues of two grunts that looked fresh off the boat for shore leave.“So, Shep” Alliance Navy Specialist Samantha Traynor collapsed unceremoniously onto the couch, basking in the flickering glow of the fireplace as it ignited across the living room. “What are we going to do now?”
“Well we could watch the director’s cut of Fleet and Flotilla” Shepard suggested.
“What, again?” Samantha said.
Shepard stepped across the apartment, leaning against the window she looked out across the great divide towards the Ryuusei sushi restaurant across the way. “Looks like they finally replaced the fish tank-”
“I’ve got it!” Samantha snapped up on the couch, her fingers aflutter across the holographic surface of her omnitool. “Take a look at this”
Shepard checked her Omni-tool to find the icon of ‘Laser Battlezone V’, a virtual reality shooter playable between players or holographic bots, flashing on her screen.
“I was playing that onboard the Cruiser SSV Cambridge when I was nine” Shepard replied.
“Not this version I suspect” Samantha smiled with a cat like grin. “Rule 34” she added.
Without the faintest hint of sarcasm Shepard replied. “What does this have to do with an Alliance regulation regarding bagpipe music at military honours ceremonies?”
“You’re serious” Samantha shook her head, exasperated. “Extranet Rule 34” she repeated.
The stark truth of the situation dawned upon Shepard. “Oh lord, why does everything on the extranet have a nude patch?”
“Ask the modders” Traynor sniggered.
“How does that even work?” Shepard asked.
“Well the Omni-tool projects holographic armour around the player which uses tiny mass effect fields to detect hits from the laser pistol. This version has been modified to remove sections of your armour after each hit. Ergo, strip Battlezone”
“Amazing, we discover a method to defy the most fundamental laws of physics and we use it to play a video game”
“Oh yeah, you also have to strip down to your underwear” Samantha said.
“Of course you do” Shepard replied with a resigned sigh.
“Come on Shepard” Samantha sauntered forward, draping her arms across her partner’s shoulders. “You scared?”
A daring smile creased Shepard’s lips as her dexterous fingers reached down to unclasp Samantha’s belt with a flick of her wrist. “Bring it on Traynor”
“Don’t get too good a look, Shepard” Traynor quipped.
“Oh don’t worry. I’ll see what you have under there in time” Shepard said.
******************************“Ready?” Traynor and Shepard stood back to back to each other, their pistols held at their sides. “Ready?”
Shepard counted down. “One, two-”
Traynor broke away early, both combatants quickly dashing for cover, firing blindly behind them as they ran for cover. Shepard dove behind the pillar to the right, Traynor crouched behind the kitchen counter. Each of them took pot shots at the other from their cover, but at this range their accuracy was erratic and uncoordinated. Traynor took a lucky hit to the shoulder, the force feedback in the armour unsettling her precarious balance and casting her to the floor.
Traynor decided upon a daring tactic, memories of basic training having lied dormant for years beneath time spent in the lab or onboard the ship suddenly resurfaced to assist in her moment of need. Bolting from her position she dashed for the stairs, keeping Shepard pinned beneath a wild hail of gunfire. Shepard dared to peek out, a near miss striking the pillar beside her forced her back into cover. Shepard considered pursuing her opponent onto the second floor. Quickly she dismissed the notion, the lingering threat of too many unknowns demanded a different a tactic.
Shepard snuck around the edge of the apartment in front of the window. Traynor emerged on the balcony, sniping from her superior position she pinned Shepard by the fireplace. She had yet to realise her attempts to entrench her superior position had left her side exposed. Shepard saw her opportunity lined up her shot. ‘I’ve got you right by your scrawny little-’
Ding Dong
The door to the apartment opened, Alliance Intelligence Staff Analyst Maya Brooks stepped into Shepard’s apartment. “Shep, you in?” Shepard gritted her teeth.
“Truce?” Shepard called out to Samantha.
“Truce” Traynor replied. Traynor and Shepard stepped out into the open living area to welcome Brooks into the apartment.
“I wanted to return your copy of ‘Fleet and Flotilla’” Brooks held out the vid in her hand.
“Maya, we were just playing a game” Traynor called out, leaning against the balcony railing. “Want to join us?”
Shepard was surprised by Samantha’s sudden brash forwardness.
“Sure” Brooks answered without daring to ask the full extent of what she had just agreed to.
“Great, you can download the program from Shepard’s terminal” Traynor said. “Oh, and you have to be in your underwear”
That condition visibly rattled Brooks. “Ok” but she unwaveringly continued into the apartment to access Shepard’s terminal.
Once she was out of earshot Samantha whispered down to her companion at ground level. “Shep, how do you feel about a little two on one action?”
******************************Maya tapped the final commands into her omni-tool, the program executing automatically. “Alright” Brooks stepped out into the open living room. “When do we star-”
A sudden burst of fire emerged from multiple directions, forcing Brooks to dive to cover in the kitchen. Brooks glanced down to see her holographic forearm plate fading away to reveal her uncovered arm. “You utter bitches” Brooks’s outburst only served to intensify the barrage against her. Moving beneath the cover of the tabletops she shifted towards the rear stairs. Climbing up onto the second floor she found herself pressed against the wall, flanked behind Traynor. She lined up her shot-
Traynor turned around, firing off a single shot and forcing Brooks back into cover. Glancing out of cover she saw Traynor behind the wall at the far end of the apartment. Brooks fired blindly at her target, keeping her pinned behind the wall. Brooks prepared herself to leap out and charge-
A heavy weight landed on top of her, forcing Brooks to the ground and pinning her against the floor. Brooks wrestled and writhed against her captors hold, their grip around her wrists only tightening from her attempts to resist. Brooks succumbed to her attack, Shepard pulling Brooks to her feet and holding her against her chest.
“I wouldn’t have thought it would be this easy to catch you” Traynor said devilishly, she lined up her killing shot. “Goodbye Brooks”
Brooks knew she had to escape, she had to be free. Brooks lashed out with her elbow hard into Shepard’s stomach. Without her armour the unexpected attack threw the Spectre off balance the moment necessary for Brooks to slip from Shepards grasp. Traynors pistol discharged, striking her temporary ally in the shoulder and disintegrating the plate in a shower of sparks.
Brooks broke away in a rush across the top floor of the apartment. “Let the hunt begin” Shepard said with a sly grin, heading away down the corridor while Traynor resumed her pursuit. Traynor ducked as another hail of gunfire peppered her, lacking adequate protection she suffered several hits against her arms and legs before she could conceal herself behind the wall.
Brooks broke away and ran further down the corridor. If she could get around to the rear of the apartment she could loop around again and-
Shepard leapt out from around the corner, tackling Brooks to the floor in a flail of limbs.
******************************“Boy, this escalated quickly” Brooks lay across the large double bed, her hands tied above her head at the head of the bed. “I mean that really got out of hand fast”
Traynor stood behind Shepard who was sitting in comfortable lounge seat, a perfect dragon to her master, Shepard idly handling her pistol in her hand. All around them still glowed the bright orange armour indicating that the game was still on. After the fight Traynor had been reduced to her chest plate and right gauntlet. Shepard, being the competent soldier amongst them and saviour of humanity to boot, had fared far better losing only her right and left forearm plates.
“This is like a scene of Reservoir Varren” Brooks mused idly.
“Careful” Traynor interjected. “You don’t want to give her any ideas” Traynor indicated the seated Shepard with an idle wave of her hand. All Shepard needed now was some vicious alien pet spread across her lap to complete the image of her as some evil genius prepared to subjugate the galaxy.
Shepard raised her pistol, taking aim at Brooks last remaining piece of armour, her chest plate. Pow to one side, pow to the other. Two simulated shots went wide, each barely grazing their target. A taunt, or a warning.
Shepard checked her pistol, adjusting the sight as she did with each of her weapons. “Let me tell you something, Brooks” satisfied that the sight was aligned she returned her pistol to her lap. “Sometimes life is about timing. You could end up being too late, something could happen”
“And we wouldn’t want anything to happen now would we?” Traynor said with a cocked eyebrow.
“There’s something you have to remember, nothing is forever” Don Shepard continued to the haunting music of the Asari Godmother in her mind.
“Human life for instance” Traynors words were a stark reality which stung deeper with every passing day in this war.
“You’ve made a mistake, you got caught” Shepard continued. “I just hope, you don’t live to regret it.
“You’re a dead woman” Traynor said with piercing eyes.
Shepard rose from her seat, turning her back on her captive and clasping her pistol in both hands at the small of her back. “Traynor let me ask you something. Do you believe its right to take a life? Is it justified to cast down an enemy who is bound, helpless and can do nothing to resist?”
Traynor leant against the back of the chair, her eyes unwavering from Brooks. “Only if they would do the same were the roles reversed”
Shepard bounced the pistol in her hand, catching the weapon and casting it back up in a single motion. Shepard threw the pistol into the air a final time, catching it and turning to aim at Brooks’s chest. “I agree”
While AFF and its agents attempt to remove all illegal works from the site as quickly and thoroughly as possible, there is always the possibility that some submissions may be overlooked or dismissed in error. The AFF system includes a rigorous and complex abuse control system in order to prevent improper use of the AFF service, and we hope that its deployment indicates a good-faith effort to eliminate any illegal material on the site in a fair and unbiased manner. This abuse control system is run in accordance with the strict guidelines specified above.
All works displayed here, whether pictorial or literary, are the property of their owners and not Adult-FanFiction.org. Opinions stated in profiles of users may not reflect the opinions or views of Adult-FanFiction.org or any of its owners, agents, or related entities.
Website Domain ©2002-2017 by Apollo. PHP scripting, CSS style sheets, Database layout & Original artwork ©2005-2017 C. Kennington. Restructured Database & Forum skins ©2007-2017 J. Salva. Images, coding, and any other potentially liftable content may not be used without express written permission from their respective creator(s). Thank you for visiting!
Powered by Fiction Portal 2.0
Modifications © Manta2g, DemonGoddess
Site Owner - Apollo