Tonight The Beast (11)
anonymous
September 18 2011, 17:19:35 UTC
The lights flickered in the base and Shepard took another look at the debris littering the hallways. This was the Elysium she knew, bombarded and on the cusp of defeat.
"Shepard," Ali's voice crackled over the radios. "The thralls are down, apart from the odd mech and scientist, your road should be clear."
Shepard nodded, looking to Garrus and Grunt, helmets hiding their faces. She was grinning, feral and unseen. "Fall back to the pick up point and hold it," she said. "We've swept the labs, we're heading for the offices."
"Yes, ma'am. Any word from the underground team?"
"Not yet," Shepard said, her grin fading. "Hold the evac point, Ali, or it's all for nothing."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Onwards?" Garrus asked, loading another heat sink into his assault rifle.
"I say, we find this Saren and make sure the third time takes," Grunt said.
Shepard smiled, placing her hands on their shoulders. "No. You two are to double back and extract Alenko's team from the basements. They won't leave until the nuke is installed, they need help."
"Shepard!" Garrus protested, while Grunt looked back down the way they had come.
"There will be plenty of mechs in the basement, but my fight is with you, Battlemaster."
Shepard shook her head, holstering her rifle and taking up her pistol instead. She ran her gauntleted hands over the gun's mechanisms, A kiss is forgot, Knuckles dust foreign skin, He falls to rot, And she relieves the sin.
"Go. Get Kaidan out of here, Garrus. Grunt, this is more important to me than anything else. You make sure this base is destroyed, I will take care of Saren."
Tonight The Beast (11.5)
anonymous
September 18 2011, 17:20:35 UTC
The offices were in no better condition than the labs and after tangling with a few mechs, she was allowed access to an office that was little more than a fortified bunker. A krogan rushed her when she entered the last room and she dispatched him quickly enough, scanning the room.
"He creeps in on shadows," a voice said from the extranet console. Shepard frowned, prowling closer over the patchwork of light and dark on the deck. "He breaks walls down and holds all your fears."
"Saren," she said, and she realised where he was, the distinctly un-turian like lump sitting on a chair. His cybernetics hadn't been salvaged, only the biological parts of him, and new mechanism had replaced broken limbs. He was like she had been once, but he had been woken too early.
The turian looked up at her, watching her comprehend his situation, and a poor grin took over his face. "Lay down your head, for the beast will come, and know your wants, and know your Spirit. Tonight, tonight, tonight the beast," he whispered.
"Garrus says that's an old turian curse." She kept her distance, wondering how he expected to fight her, what trick he had up his sleeve.
"The beast stalks us all, we're taught that as children." Saren leaned on on, twisted and gnarled arm. "I now realise that we all have different beasts. You are mine. You weak, inferior species. You come to me even in my afterlife."
Shepard felt her gun dropping to her side. "They brought you back, this is no afterlife, Saren."
"They tell me you did this too." Saren's face plates, what was left of them, twitched. "Did it hurt?"
"Yes. More than anything."
Saren nodded slowly and heaved to his feet. He was lopsided and broken in so many places. He held his arms out to allow her a good look. "Do I frighten you now, Shepard?"
"I pity you, Saren," she said, clipping her pistol to her belt. "I have always pitied you." She was glad of her helmet, concealing the way her throat bobbed when she wetted her lips and swallowed.
The old turian nodded. "You defeated the reapers then, you did everything I could not." He sat once more, a groan escaping him as he did so. "And here you are, with that C-Sec officer and a few krogan in tow like always. Your human friend, Alenko, the one you never brought with you to fight me."
"He wasn't the right choice for that mission."
"Hmm." Shepard's omnitool beeped and Saren glanced at it. "And no one was the right choice this time?"
"Saren," Shepard murmured, stepping closer. "Do you want this?"
He frowned at her. "You know, though, you know what lies after the beast has claimed you. It is nothing. And coming back brings only pain." He sprung, with all of his old speed and power, for a second he was Saren again. He snatched her by the throat, sending a chilling, terrifying bolt into her guts as he pinned her to the wall, his breath rasping in his lungs. "If I must go back to that, I will take you with me."
She struggled, fighting for air and kicking at his legs. He seemed immune to pain for having felt it for so long. "I-" she gasped, "Saren!"
"I'll break you, Shepard."
"I'm pregnant!" she managed, and his grip loosened for a moment, long enough for her to drive her fist into his face and drop him to the floor. She whipped out her pistol and fired at his head. He spluttered, his mandibles clicking and his body spasming. "I'm sorry," she murmured, standing over him. "But that one I never bring to face you has armed a nuclear device that will vaporise this facility and you. You'll not be back this time, Saren, there'll be nothing to resurrect."
He stared up at her with one good eye, mouth working to say something.
Hating herself for doing so, she crouched down beside him, leaning close enough to hear his whisper.
Tonight The Beast (Epilogue)
anonymous
September 18 2011, 17:31:15 UTC
The asari Spectre listened to the Council's verdict and sighed, shaking her head. They didn't outright acknowledge Saren's return, but they did least acknowledge the presence of the terrorist cell on the former colony of Elysium.
She particularly wondered how the High Spectre could listen to these verdicts without speaking, but she knew better than to question. Shepard was, after all, not doing field work any more. At least not for a few years.
Ali smiled to herself as she left. The competition for organising a baby shower was stiff, she knew she didn't have a chance. She was happier to be on a mission herself.
And Kaidan, her mentor, well the old man had assigned her a new Spectre candidate to assess.
Perhaps it was because she was still a maiden, but she couldn't see herself settling down one day, couldn't imagine a reason to stop and start breeding, even if the galaxy did need it.
Re: Tonight The Beast (Epilogue) - OP
anonymous
September 18 2011, 17:46:08 UTC
THANK YOU SO MUCH! :-D It's fantastic and awesome and so much more than I thought I'd get with a prompt like I gave.
I'll start on the prompt I said I'd do for you in the next day or two - I'm just trying to get the last little bits finished on Worth Dying For, and then you're next on my list.
Author anon
anonymous
September 19 2011, 15:46:30 UTC
Pfft I completely blanked on that and read it as "Shenko size" kink, as in the OP wanted Shenko as the kink, not that size was the kink. It made sense in my head at the time!
"Shepard," Ali's voice crackled over the radios. "The thralls are down, apart from the odd mech and scientist, your road should be clear."
Shepard nodded, looking to Garrus and Grunt, helmets hiding their faces. She was grinning, feral and unseen. "Fall back to the pick up point and hold it," she said. "We've swept the labs, we're heading for the offices."
"Yes, ma'am. Any word from the underground team?"
"Not yet," Shepard said, her grin fading. "Hold the evac point, Ali, or it's all for nothing."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Onwards?" Garrus asked, loading another heat sink into his assault rifle.
"I say, we find this Saren and make sure the third time takes," Grunt said.
Shepard smiled, placing her hands on their shoulders. "No. You two are to double back and extract Alenko's team from the basements. They won't leave until the nuke is installed, they need help."
"Shepard!" Garrus protested, while Grunt looked back down the way they had come.
"There will be plenty of mechs in the basement, but my fight is with you, Battlemaster."
Shepard shook her head, holstering her rifle and taking up her pistol instead. She ran her gauntleted hands over the gun's mechanisms, A kiss is forgot,
Knuckles dust foreign skin,
He falls to rot,
And she relieves the sin.
"Go. Get Kaidan out of here, Garrus. Grunt, this is more important to me than anything else. You make sure this base is destroyed, I will take care of Saren."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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"He creeps in on shadows," a voice said from the extranet console. Shepard frowned, prowling closer over the patchwork of light and dark on the deck. "He breaks walls down and holds all your fears."
"Saren," she said, and she realised where he was, the distinctly un-turian like lump sitting on a chair. His cybernetics hadn't been salvaged, only the biological parts of him, and new mechanism had replaced broken limbs. He was like she had been once, but he had been woken too early.
The turian looked up at her, watching her comprehend his situation, and a poor grin took over his face. "Lay down your head, for the beast will come, and know your wants, and know your Spirit. Tonight, tonight, tonight the beast," he whispered.
"Garrus says that's an old turian curse." She kept her distance, wondering how he expected to fight her, what trick he had up his sleeve.
"The beast stalks us all, we're taught that as children." Saren leaned on on, twisted and gnarled arm. "I now realise that we all have different beasts. You are mine. You weak, inferior species. You come to me even in my afterlife."
Shepard felt her gun dropping to her side. "They brought you back, this is no afterlife, Saren."
"They tell me you did this too." Saren's face plates, what was left of them, twitched. "Did it hurt?"
"Yes. More than anything."
Saren nodded slowly and heaved to his feet. He was lopsided and broken in so many places. He held his arms out to allow her a good look. "Do I frighten you now, Shepard?"
"I pity you, Saren," she said, clipping her pistol to her belt. "I have always pitied you." She was glad of her helmet, concealing the way her throat bobbed when she wetted her lips and swallowed.
The old turian nodded. "You defeated the reapers then, you did everything I could not." He sat once more, a groan escaping him as he did so. "And here you are, with that C-Sec officer and a few krogan in tow like always. Your human friend, Alenko, the one you never brought with you to fight me."
"He wasn't the right choice for that mission."
"Hmm." Shepard's omnitool beeped and Saren glanced at it. "And no one was the right choice this time?"
"Saren," Shepard murmured, stepping closer. "Do you want this?"
He frowned at her. "You know, though, you know what lies after the beast has claimed you. It is nothing. And coming back brings only pain." He sprung, with all of his old speed and power, for a second he was Saren again. He snatched her by the throat, sending a chilling, terrifying bolt into her guts as he pinned her to the wall, his breath rasping in his lungs. "If I must go back to that, I will take you with me."
She struggled, fighting for air and kicking at his legs. He seemed immune to pain for having felt it for so long. "I-" she gasped, "Saren!"
"I'll break you, Shepard."
"I'm pregnant!" she managed, and his grip loosened for a moment, long enough for her to drive her fist into his face and drop him to the floor. She whipped out her pistol and fired at his head. He spluttered, his mandibles clicking and his body spasming. "I'm sorry," she murmured, standing over him. "But that one I never bring to face you has armed a nuclear device that will vaporise this facility and you. You'll not be back this time, Saren, there'll be nothing to resurrect."
He stared up at her with one good eye, mouth working to say something.
Hating herself for doing so, she crouched down beside him, leaning close enough to hear his whisper.
"Congratulations"
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She particularly wondered how the High Spectre could listen to these verdicts without speaking, but she knew better than to question. Shepard was, after all, not doing field work any more. At least not for a few years.
Ali smiled to herself as she left. The competition for organising a baby shower was stiff, she knew she didn't have a chance. She was happier to be on a mission herself.
And Kaidan, her mentor, well the old man had assigned her a new Spectre candidate to assess.
Perhaps it was because she was still a maiden, but she couldn't see herself settling down one day, couldn't imagine a reason to stop and start breeding, even if the galaxy did need it.
She was still making her mark on the world.
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I'll start on the prompt I said I'd do for you in the next day or two - I'm just trying to get the last little bits finished on Worth Dying For, and then you're next on my list.
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Not the OP, but I was looking forward to that part getting hit, and it would be fantastic if some other a!a were to take this on. :)
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Sorry!
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