[Book Two] Chapter 26: The beast within

Chapter 26: The beast within

After saying their goodbye to Liara who was now assisted by Feron and the former Shadow’ Broker’s VI, Shepard, Garrus and Rick went back to the Normandy. With their friend’s problem taken care of, Shepard saw the opportunity to finally implement the IFF they got on the derelict reaper in the ship. That was until Jane received a communication from Hackett who requested her help for a mission. Apparently a N7 team went missing in the Traverse on a mission to raid a slaver clan’s base of operation. As it was quite close to the Batarian’s space, the admiral worried for the team greatly, especially since his own niece was on it. Legion wished to speak to her for a mission. Apparently ‘heretics’ were working on a virus to convert all the geths into being following the reapers. That was something that couldn’t happen so Jane was determined to put an end to that. Fortunately both missions were rather close in location, so they wouldn’t lose much time between the two, however to get there the trip would last two weeks as they were traversing the galaxy.

That was good enough for Rick who just kept practicing, either by himself or with Jane. During the time he was hacking the door on the Broker’s ship, she hadn’t done too bad of a job but her shields had to stop several hits and that wasn’t good enough, for neither of them.

One thing didn’t go well for Rick and that was the development of a new type of shield. The basic idea he had was that during the low time of the barrier’s frequency, another barrier would be at the peak of it. The problem was that both were overlapping at that middle point and it wasn’t sustainable. He needed to either increase the frequency of the shield, abandoning the idea of a second layer or actually make two shields. In the latter case there was no point if someone had to carry two shields, completely rendering useless what he wanted to do.

In the end he put the project on hold. He worked instead on another project of his, his company. He knew he wanted Miranda at the head of things, managing the operation and while Tali and He would be co-presidents they would just work on what they did best. Tali on creating new ships, him on cyber security and developing ideas. He hoped that David would be interested in working with them.He wanted the company to have a hand in every sector, be they tech oriented or not. He would extend an invitation to Mordin, to experiment on what he wanted as long as it was to help people and now that Liara was the greatest broker in the galaxy, make her their spymaster or something along those lines. 

He wasn’t in a hurry, the company would probably take years before it became prominent in the galaxy and they had the reapers to deal with first.


____________________________________________________________________________

Jane chose to save the N7 team first. As organic life was more important than dealing with the geths. Rick disagreed but he wasn’t the one in charge so didn’t say anything in protest.

They arrived at Junthor in the Armstrong Nebula, a system in the Skyllian verge. Sending probs all around, EDI quickly found the bunker the slavers were residing in. The question both Jane and Rick had was: how did a N7 team get captured by a clan? The only explanation they could think of was they got ambushed by a trap. That made them wonder if there was still a team to save. Nevertheless they needed to find out they got down on the planet, not far from the bunker’s entrance.

“Let’s be as stealthy as possible.” Jane ordered.
“If we’re discovered, how do you want to play it? All out assault or let the ones not caught keep going?” Rick asked.
“... All out assault in that case. We’ll strike hard and we’ll strike fast.”

The commander had taken Samara and Mordin with them, as the former was used to fight pirates and slavers and in the salarian’s case it was because he could act as a field medic which was not someone they could pass on as the N7 team had been here for nearly a month. 

Reaching the door, Rick began hacking it when he stopped for a moment then went back to it.

“A problem?” Jane asked.
“Their security sucks but it’s smartly done.” he replied as he coded away.
“What do you mean?”
“Bypassing the door’s lock while not triggering an alarm is rather standard however the booby trap is not.”
“What kind of booby trap?” inquired Samara.
“Basically to not trigger the alarm, one has to deactivate it but that triggers a silent second one. From what I understand of the code, once we would have gotten inside the door would have locked ourselves in, went off the power grid while neural gas would have filled the room to knock us out. Not only is it clever but it’s well hidden in the code.”
“I guess that’s how the team got caught.”
“Probably. I was lucky I found the security, too…plain for the place.”
“Advanced bunker, standard security. Make no sense.” Mordin explained as Shepard tilted her head on the side, not understanding what Rick meant by ‘plain’.
“So, where is everyone? The team and the slavers, separately.” the redhead asked Rick who turned around after finishing his job and looked at her in silence. “ You told me in Noveria that every building is provided with a map of it at its conception.”
“Really?” inquired Samara, that piece of information was big.
“Yes. It’s an automatic feature on every architectural program that gets transferred to the construction mechas. Once the job is done, it’s automatically and remotely uploaded to the building’s network. It’s an old law and again, automatic, so very few people know of it or remember it, not even the architects. Maybe the STG.”
“Few of them. Can’t have leaks on how to get building’s blueprints. Salarian military buildings’ blueprints deleted.” confessed Mordin.

The team entered the bunker safely and sneakily made their way in the lower levels, going around guards and patrols. That hadn’t been particularly difficult as there weren’t many and Rick took care of the cameras’ feed. In less than ten minutes and knocking out two guards, they found who they were looking for and the sight wasn’t great. Clearly they had been starved and had multiple beating sessions. The N7 team wasn’t alone however at least two dozen other people were with them behind the reinforced glass parked like animals, it was impossible to be sure as the cell was mostly in the dark. Shepard quickly recognized Helena and went to her.

“Major Muller.”
“Commander! Thank god you came, those assholes are about to leave soon! They’re waiting for a shipment of red sand before rounding us up to sell us who knows where."

Jane didn’t even need to ask Rick to open the door of the cell as he was already working on it. In no time everyone started to walk out to their freedom.

"We expected to find you here but just your team Major. Others captured I presume?"

"Yes, that will complicate things, some can walk fast but others need help to even stand, especially the children."

Shepard turned around to look at her team, Mordin was already at work administering medi-gel to the ones who needed it the most. It was Samara’s expression on her face that told her something was wrong.

"Samara?"

"Yes, commander?"

"What’s wrong?"

"I… We should cover the children’s eyes."  The asari replied out of the blue.

"Why?"

"No children should see what Rick is about to do to those slavers."

"What Rick is…" Jane began to ask when she noted that the aforementioned man was nowhere around " Samara, where is he?"

"On his way to slaughter. It won’t be pretty, Shepard." She said as she began to walk the two guards, now dead from a broken neck, to make some blindfold by ripping their clothes.

"Did he do that?"

"Yes. None of them will see another tomorrow, he won’t leave until they’re all dead, not after hurting children."

"There is a story, there. From your time together." She stated as she helped make the blindfolds.

"Our last mission together but it’s not the time nor the place for speaking about it."

They both handed the blindfolds to the children and had to explain to them why. Samara did as Shepard had no idea what would await them but since a 600 years old justicar tells you it’s going to be bad, then you shut up and follow her advice or directives.

"What’s going on?"  Inquired Helena. 

"The greatest troublemaker in my team is going to create trouble, for the slavers that is. Samara, that is the asari with me, is certain that the sight won’t be pretty at all.

"He’s going to take forty slavers by himself?!"

"Apparently, he wouldn’t have left on his own otherwise."

"Is it the famous 'Rick does what he wants' moment that I read in the report?

Shepard nodded. The group ready, they began to move as fast as they could, going back the way they came when the blaring of an alarm was heard.

“Mordin, what’s the situation?”
“Slavers converging towards great hall. Two floors up. Rick good distraction.”
“Do you see a way out that can take advantage of that?”

Mordin switched off the cameras’ feed and was looking at the plans of the complex on his omnitool. It only took him a minute before answering.

“Docking Bay. Ships there, can evacuate everyone. Detour necessary but safe.”
“What about Rick or the slavers, What is actually going on?” inquired the commander and Mordin put back the feed on.

“...fuck is Aria’s cleaner here?!” said the first Batarian they saw on screen.
“I don’t know! We didn’t deal with her or act in her territory!” answered a second.
“Then why?!”
“Who gives a shit?! Kill him!”

The view kept changing as they got out of the camera’s field of view. Finally Mordin switched to one of the cameras in the great hall and the sight was gruesome. Jane counted six batarians down. One of them was in two parts, another was impaled on a broken table and two others were headless. She didn’t have time to register the sight as a blue blur hit a living slaver so hard he ended up half embedded into a wall folded in two with only his head and legs sticking out. A new group arrived into the room and Rick charged again, ramming the one in the middle staggering in him, in one motion he shot the head off on the batarian on the right while sending a powerful slam on the one of the left. Crouching down he swept off his feet with a kick to the first one before sending a knife to his unprotected throat. Rolling back he put himself on his hands to do a head stand and spin, using his feet to do a Pull that hit a stationary target hiding being a pillar. Pushing on his arms he did a flip to be back on his feet. 

Rick didn’t stop there, he charged the batarian now floating around and grabbed him by his leg after sticking a grenade onto him then hurled him at a new group of three coming through a door on the side. The explosion killed all four batarian staining the whole area with blood and flesh.

“I read the reports but seeing it with my own eyes…” Helena said in a mix of emotions.
“Brutality outside norm.” commented Mordin.
“Yeah, usually he’s not…”
“That savage?” the Major replied finishing her sentence as Jane was at a loss of words.
“Be prepared to see him covered in blood from head to toe.” warned Samara with a hint of sadness in her voice and her eyes.

The large group started moving again, Rick’s distraction was not to be wasted after all though at pace he was going there would be no slaver left alive before they reached the docking bay. In the end the detour had  been worth it, they didn’t encounter a single batarian on the way and got to their destination safely. One of the ships belonged to the N7 team, brought back here by the slavers after some research in the area. It wasn’t anything big but big enough to accommodate everyone for a few hours of travel as the Alliance had a small station not far. The Normandy team backtrack to help their missing member or rather pick him up. They didn’t comment on the way they found him. Covered in blood as predicted by Samara and lots of bodies all around. He seemed out of it, unmoving and it was with prudence that Jane approached him.

"Rick, are you…"

“Everyone reached the docking bay?"

"Everyone did. It’s our turn."

"Then let’s go, you should warn the Alliance. They could take over the base and use it to ambush more of those animals."

"I’ll pass the word to Hackett."

He left promptly  for the exit, Samara following him closely. It was with a worried look on her face that Shepard looked at his retreating back.

I need to hear that story from Samara.

__________________________________________________

The return to the ship had been done in utter silence and as soon as they docked in the cargo bay, Rick went straight towards the biotic area and began to unleash everything he had on the dummies there. Jack, who was on the side, stopped what she was doing ang gave a quizzical look to the commander. Who shook her head negatively.

"There were kidnapped children there from nearly all councilian species. He… well you get the idea about what he did." She explained as she looked at the man.

In an act out of character for the old Jack, she walked slowly towards him but was grabbed by the arm by Shepard  who once again shook her head.

"Don’t worry, I got this." Was the only thing the ex-convict said.

Looking at her intently for a moment the redhead gently released her with a nod. Jack went to Rick and began to talk to him. After a few minutes of it his assault on the poor dummy slowed down then stopped. Relieved that one of her teachers was handling the second, she looked at Samara who understood what she wanted.

__________________________________________________

"Children! Fucking Children!"

"That’s life."

"I know!"

"Then you know you can’t do shit about it."

"That’s what makes me mad the most! That, what happened to me, to you! I.. fucking can’t change a thing, for them. Children shouldn’t experience that. I feel so powerless!"

"You’re not. One look at you and I know all those fuckers are dead."

Rick sat down on the ground right here and there and finally winded and felt lost. Jack didn’t know what to do; she could deal with an angry burst of violence but that? That, she didn't and so she winged it. She sat down next to him and talked out of her ass.

“Look, they’re dead, the kids are alive and will be taken care of. Take it for what it is, a win because it doesn’t happen often.”

Rick stayed silent for a moment then took a deep breath and let it out. Turning his head to look at Jack, he said a few words that made her think he’d be alright.

“Team abused kids for the win, I suppose.”
“You got that right.” she snorted.
“You know, I’m surprised at how good you are at comforting people.”
“Shep said the same but I don’t think I am. Though if we compare me to you then I’m the fucking queen of comforting.” she replied, making them both laugh.

____________________________________________________________

“Soooooo…” began Shepard as she faced Samara in the Starboard room. “ What happened?”
“Nearly the same thing.”
“There is more to it than that.” Jane insisted.

Samara stopped meditating and stood up from the floor and looked at the stars behind the window.

“It’s his private life, Shepard. I will not share it with you. At least I wouldn’t if the situation was different.” Sighing, the asari composed herself and then talked. “We were chasing a man named Elanos Haliat, he was…”
“The one responsible for the Skyllian blitz.”
“Yes, forgive me, I forgot that you were there.”
“That’s alright, I didn't know the guy until I met him two years ago. He tried to have me killed with a nuke under a mountain. Rick killed him, decapitated his head and made a cup out of it.”
“He finally did it then.” Samara said with a hint of a smile.
“Is it an asari custom?”
“No, not at all.”
“Then why…”
“As I was saying, we heard that Haliat was trying to lay low on the other side of the Traverse, close to the border of Asari Space. He did however keep up with this slave business, as it one of the most lucrative. We boarded their ship. They were perhaps two dozen at most and poorly equipped, so we decided to each go our own way. He was the one to find the children. From talking to one of the eldest, they were… used by the pirates.” explained Samara without going into too much detail. “Rick surprised them while they were having their fun and… well, what he did earlier was merciful in comparison. There was blood and body parts everywhere and in the middle of the room was Rick, who kept beating a long dead batarian, over and over, with his bare hands. Have you ever seen a skull bashed in so hard and in so many different places that the eyes are dangling out of their orbits by the optical nerve while the rest is just pure past of red? I did, and that’s one of the top three things I wished I had never seen.” Shaking her head as if to forget the memory she continued. “I grabbed him by the shoulder to make him stop and soon I was fighting for my life. He was so out of it… blinded by rage… I knocked him out by Throwing him against the wall then I went to free the children. They were terrified, Shepard, of him. Some didn’t want to leave their cell to face the ‘robot-beast’.”

She stopped talking, reminiscing about that memory. It was one she wished she could change. Turning around she sat down on one of the couches.

“During the whole trip back towards Thessia, none of the children approached him. Some even screamed in the night dreaming of him. That…He didn’t take it well, he wasn’t joking, or laughing or being his usual idiotic and childish self when in private. No, he was cold and distant, as if he was the robot the children called him. Unfeeling and uncaring just like the day we met. It saddened me to no end, commander, because underneath that frozen exterior is perhaps the kindest and most giving person I have ever met, with a great sense of justice, truth and loyalty. And that person… it was gone. Once the children were handed to the authorities, Rick said what I knew was coming.”
“He was done.” answered Shepard.
“Yes. He sold the ship and gave me half the money to buy what I needed and to give the surplus to people in need then he left after saying goodbye. During the next year I wondered from time to time how he was doing until I received a message out of the blue, saying he had met someone who helped him be at peace.”
“His wife, I presume?” asked Jane to which Samara nodded in affirmation.
“I was happy for him and relieved.”
“You’re worried about it happening again?”
“I… For a time yes, but he was in control of himself back then, so I’m hoping for the best.”
“I think he will, Jack is talking to him right now. If anyone can understand abuse it’s her.”
“Perhaps it is for the best, Jack is strong. After everything she went through she’s still fighting. They’re a lot alike in that regard, they don’t stop until it’s over.”
“Thankfully no, they do not. Now what’s about making a cup out of a skull?”
“Oh! Well... Haliat wasn’t there when we raided the base and Rick promised himself that’s what he was going to do if he ever found him.”
“Promise kept.” she smiled and Samara smiled back.

Thanking the asari, she left the room just as Rick exited the men shower room. Clothed this time. Without saying a word she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him towards the elevator to her cabin. He was too tired to protest and just went with the flow hoping whatever was going to happen would go faster. Once inside her quarters she pushed him on her bed and joined him. She cut off any complaint or jab he was about to make by embracing him from behind and resting her head on the top of his helmet. She felt his body tense a lot but didn’t lessen her grip. Finally after a few minutes he relaxed and after the emotionally and physically draining day they had he fell asleep.

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