Reignite | By : Mr_Fairplay Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 8109 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1 |
Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or any of the characters, all rights belong to Bioware. I receive no profit form the story. |
Author's Note: Hey all! First of all thanks for all the hits for the story, i expected to barely cross a hundred and now as i see here we're just a little short of a thousand, which hopefully we'll cross after this chapter. Secondly, i'd like to apologize for the delay for this chapter, i'm a college student and my mid-terms came, so it has been absolute hell here, spring break just began so i'll probably post a couple of chapters in a week, at least that's what i hope to do.
I know this chapter is more or less the same as the game, which i didn't originally plan to do, in order to write in the style and direction i planned required me to skip this chapter all together, but if did that it broke the continuation of the timeline, so this was the only solution. Anyway, i did try to spice things up by altering a few dialogue, hope it was good. Enjoy, and hopefully i'll be out with a new chapter before Tuesday.
P.S. Here's my forum link, if you guys want to interact with me, that's the place, link given below:
http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/62327-mass-effect-reignite/
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Shepard knew two things sitting in the cargo hold of the Normandy; first, The Reapers had arrived, second, he had been reinstated and had been ordered to go to Mars instead of fighting back on Earth, something about Prothean Archives and some weapon, Hackett’s message was too scrambled to make sense of, that’s all he could understand. What would he find there, why was he ordered to go there instead of fighting on Earth? He didn’t know.
“Five minutes to Mars, Commander” Joker announced on the intercom, interrupting Shepard’s musings.
“Vega, you’re flying the shuttle, Joker put us in orbit and be on standby, we have to be ready for anything” Shepard ordered.
Both men acknowledged and then set out to carry out the orders. Shepard grabbed an Avenger assault rifle, a Katana shotgun and a Predator heavy pistol, all standard Alliance issue weapons; a few minutes later they had arrived at their destination, the Alliance facility on Mars. There was a huge storm approaching, they had maybe half an hour at most before it got there. The facility was silent, no one was answering, something wasn’t right, and the Reapers hadn’t been there by the looks of it, then why wasn’t there any response, were they evacuated? They landed on the surface and started making their way to the facility, the storm was approaching in the background.
“It’s quiet, too quiet…I gotta bad feeling about this” Ashley broke the silence. They dropped down a ledge where they could hear bang like noises from afar.
“Shh, what’s that?” James whispered, as they came to a couple of bodies at the bottom of the ledge.
“Alliance, Sergeant Reeves, doesn’t look like he put up much of a fight” Ashley commented inspecting one of the bodies.
“Explains the no response, who shot em? Something’s not right here” James replied.
“Keep a low profile till we know what’s going on” Shepard ordered.
Shepard knelt down and picked up the Mantis sniper rifle off the ground. They heard the noise again, louder this time, definitely gunshots, thought Shepard, his senses were on alert, an uneasy feeling in his gut. Rounding off the corner they saw the source of the noise, Cerberus troops, executing Alliance personnel.
“Holy Shit, they’re executing them!” James exclaimed.
“Quiet! Get under cover!” Shepard ordered whispering, as he brought out the sniper rifle he picked up earlier, he aimed down the scope at the soldier who was about to fire at the last of the Alliance troops, but before he could, Shepard pulled the trigger and shot him in the head; his head exploded with bits and pieces of the soldier’s skull and brain flying about in a bloody explosion. Before his comrades could react, Shepard did the same to another soldier, he had lightning quick reflexes thanks to the Cerberus implants he had gotten during his reconstruction, to him time slowed down and he could react rapidly.
“They know we’re here now” James said as he and Ashley also opened fire on the Cerberus squad, making quick work of them. They advanced towards the entrance, whatever was here, Cerberus wanted it bad and that was all the more reason for the three of them to hurry.
“Those guys were Cerberus weren’t they?” James asked.
“Sure looked like it” Shepard answered.
“What’s Cerberus doing here on Mars?” Ashley asked him.
“Good question” Shepard replied.
“You mean, you don’t know?”
“I’m not with them anymore Ash, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“I wasn’t… but we’ve got a shadowy terrorist organization infiltrating one of our top research facilities. I think that warrants a little bit of suspicion”
Before Shepard could reply they ran into another Cerberus squad near the entrance, bullets were fired, blood was spilled, brains were scattered all over the Martian soil and the Cerberus squad was no more. Cerberus was not there in great numbers, a few trucks were outside and Shepard estimated there couldn’t have been more than 50 soldiers in them who arrived there, this was most probably an inside job and somebody let these guys in.
Finally after having made their way inside, they ran into Liara, she was running from a couple of Cerberus troops in the vents but made quick work of them after exiting.
“Shepard, thank the goddess you’re alive!” Liara exclaimed.
“Liara.” Shepard replied in acknowledgment.
“I was worried when the reports came in. The Reapers hit Earth hard?”
“Yeah, hard would be an understatement. It was…difficult to leave.” Ashley joined the conversation.
“Ashley, I’m so sorry. But…why’d you come here?”
“Hackett ordered us to come here, said you knew what was going on” Shepard answered.
“I do.” Liara replied.
“Hallelujah. Finally, some answers.” James exclaimed.
“Maybe. I’ve discovered plans for a Prothean device. One that could destroy the Reapers”
“Here? On Mars?” Shepard asked.
“In the Prothean Archives, yes” Liara replied.
“Sounds too good to be true, where is it located?”
“It’s not a weapon, per se, not yet at least. It’s plans for a device, a blueprint.”
“It’s still something, and we need anything we can get to destroy those metal bastards. How do we get it?”
“There’s the tramway which leads straight to the Archives, assuming Cerberus hasn’t locked it down”
“What are they after?”
“Yeah, they seem hell-bent on catching you” James commented.
“They want what I came here for, what we all came here for, the plans for the device” Liara replied.
“But why?” Shepard asked.
“The Protheans came very close to defeating the Reapers, they had plans to destroy them, but they ran out of time.”
“And anything powerful enough that can destroy the Reapers…” Ashley commented.
“Might be something Cerberus might be interested in” Shepard finished the sentence.
“So, it’s a race to the Archives” James concluded.
At that very moment an explosion sounded, an attempt to blow the door open, Cerberus was attacking. Shepard sent James back to the shuttle to cover their backs and fought off the Cerberus troops with Ashley and Liara. It was a tough fight as Cerberus had the high ground and kept pinning them under fire, but with Liara’s biotics they were able to kill them and begin the race to the Archives. Cerberus wasn’t there in greater numbers, just a handful of troops which took the Alliance forces stationed at Mars by surprise, but were no match for the Shepard, Ashley and Liara, with a combination of the trio’s power, the meager Cerberus force was reduced to bullet ridden and bloody bodies.
Cerberus had locked down the pedway forcing the trio to take the rooftop to make their way around to the archives. In the distance, Cerberus forces could be seen taking the tram to Archives with the remainder of the Alliance forces hot on their heels. They made their way into the mess hall, power had been cut out and the whole room had been vented out due to the airlock being opened, dead bodies were scattered around; researchers, scientists, and various personnel, all unarmed. There was a datapad with an email opened, a complaint against a Dr. Eva Core going through the researcher’s files, Liara had mentioned that she was new there and just joined a week ago. They ran into another Cerberus squad, they were also met with the same fate like the others before them. Shortly after, they found the environmental controls and there they found who had let Cerberus in, it was none other than Dr. Eva Core, a Cerberus spy.
This revelation caused the trio to quicken their pace even more, Cerberus wanted bad whatever was in the Archives, they already had a headstart and it was possible that they had gotten their hands on the data stored there. The hallway to the tram station was filled with Cerberus troops and they had the advantage of numbers and cover in this situation, Shepard and his squad was taking a lot of fire. But somehow they managed to get to the tram station and even past the automated gun turret. But there they had a problem, all the trams were on the other end, with Cerberus. They found some surveillance footage showing that Cerberus had made it to the Archives.
“They won’t be a sending a tram anytime soon” Ashley commented.
“See if you can over-ride the system” Shepard ordered Liara.
“The Archives are on a totally separate network, we’re completely locked out” Liara replied.
“Not quite, we need to get a transmitter, something short ranged, helmet-to-helmet. Then we convince them that we’re with them and that the Alliance forces have been taken care of.” Ashley proposed.
“Hmm, that could work. Good idea, see what you can find” Shepard replied. Ashley left to find an intact helmet with a transmitter in it, she called out to Shepard a few minutes later.
“What have you got?” Shepard asked.
“Got one intact, he has a transmitter inside his helmet, if I can…” Ashley was interrupted by a hissing sound as she took off the face plate of the dead Centurion, her eyes beheld a horrid sight as the face looked like a cross between a husk and a human’s face. Ashley looked on in horror, Shepard was shocked as well, this was once the organization that opposed the Reapers when everybody ignored them, they backed Shepard against the Collectors, and now it seemed like their own troops were turning into Reapers.
“That could have been you, Shepard. For all I knew, that’s what Cerberus had done to you” Ashley said.
“You’re comparing me to that…thing? A husk?” Shepard replied.
“I don’t know what you are anymore, not since they got their hands on you. Is it really you? Would you even know if they were controlling you somehow?” Ashley said
“That’s not fair, Ash”
“I don’t need you to answer, I doubt there’s anything you can say to make me believe you. I guess I just need some time to get to know you again”
“I’m still the same, Ash. Time won’t change that, but if that’s what you need, I understand”
“Thanks…for understanding”
“You bet, now lets see if we can get that tram sent over here.”
Shepard was able to trick the Cerberus forces on the other side into sending a tram over to their end, by posing to be ‘Delta Squad’, the tram of course had more troops on them but that wasn’t a problem for Shepard and his squad. Ashley and Liara flanked them while Shepard took point and took them out with his sniper rifle. After the Cerberus squad had been dealt with, they got on the tram to the archives only for it to be stopped by Cerberus by detonating a bomb, but another tram containing Cerberus troops stopped parallel to them. Shepard’s party boarded the other tram and using their omni blades, got themselves rid of the Cerberus squad, and were able to get to the other side.
Cerberus forces were heavily dug in on the other side, and had the advantage of a strong defensive position which was a problem for Shepard’s squad. Liara’s biotic abilities proved to be a blessing for them, using her Singularity she took care of the Guardian units Cerberus had deployed, the shields they carried were impenetrable by bullets but a correctly placed biotic attack took them out of position only to be blasted away from Shepard’s shotgun. Dealing with the last of the Cerberus troops, they finally entered the Archives, where an unpleasant surprise awaited them. As Liara began working on the console, the holographic communicator came to life and revealed a very unpleasant sight, The Illusive Man.
“Shepard. Fascinating race, the Protheans, they left all of this for us to discover, but we squandered it. The Alliance has known about the Archives for more than 30 years, and what have they done with it? Nothing, think of all the knowledge stored here, knowledge that we could have used. But did we?” The Illusive Man said as he took a drag of a cigarette.
“What do you want?” Shepard replied, annoyed.
“What I’ve always wanted. The data stored here, holds the key to solving the key to the Reaper threat.”
“I’ve seen your solution, you turned your people into monsters, monsters that you claim to be fighting.”
“Hardly, they’re being improved. That’s what separates us, what you see as means to destroy, I see means to control, to dominate and harness the Reapers’ power, imagine how strong humanity would be.”
“Are you serious? Do you even listen to yourself every now and then? Control the Reapers? You’re even more insane than I thought!”
“I expected you to answer like that, and while I’d love to debate I’m afraid I do not have the time, so if you’ll excuse me, there is work to be done. Don’t interfere in my plans again, Shepard. I won’t warn you again.”
“Duly Noted”
“Shepard!” Liara interrupted, “The data, it’s not here”
“What?!?! Where is it?” Shepard exclaimed loudly.
“It’s being erased”
The hologram of The Illusive Man smiled wickedly and then disappeared. Someone was uploading the data locally to The Illusive Man, while Shepard and Liara tried to locate that someone on their console and save the remaining bits, Ashley was circling around looking for the culprit, she found a few moments later that it was none other than Dr. Eva Core. Ashley tried apprehending her, but she knocked her down and tried to escape only to have Shepard right on her tail. He chased her across the base ending on the roof, where a Cerberus shuttle picked her up. Their fighting chance against the Reapers was gone, without the weapon they couldn’t survive, let alone win against the Reapers, no race could.
Just when they thought that all hope was lost, James swooped down in the shuttle on a collision course with the Cerberus shuttle causing it to crash. A few moments later, a synthetic , who was in fact disguised as Dr Eva Core, burst through the crash debris, it grabbed Ashley by the head and rammed her into the downed shuttle, injuring her badly. Shepard shot at the synthetic and managed to bring it down a few feet away from him. The Reapers were arriving on Mars, they grabbed both Ashley and the synthetic and narrowly escaped the arriving Reapers. They got the data, but it looked like they might lose Ashley.
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