Mass Effect - A Hero Rises Ch. 25

"It's about time! The batteries on these tanks will not wait while you play with these idiotic mercenaries."

"Look, I think we've just saved your arse so a little gratitude would be appreciated. We are here to help you. Well, recruit you, to be honest."

"You may claim to be here to help, but the formerly deceased Shepard is not a sign of gentle change."

"You talking about Virmire?" My fingers tightened around the trigger of my weapon. It was noticed, as there was definite movement behind me. Okeer noticed as all he did was grin.

"You misunderstand, Shepard. I approved of your actions. They were not true krogan. Never would have been. Numbers alone are nothing."

"So what's the problem then?"

"Jedore. I've given her my rejects for her pathetic army. And now she wants to kill me." He paused for a beat, then nodded. "Yes, I think my time here is at an end."

"So you're willing to come with?"

"Yes. I assume you will tell me what it's about once we are gone?"

"That's the plan."

"Very well." He then walked towards a nearby tank that happened to contain a fully-grown krogan. He gazed upon it like a father would look upon his son. "He is my greatest creation. One pure soldier." The krogan looked back at me. "If I come, he must come with me. That is non-negotiable."

"What is he exactly?"

"He is my legacy."

"Rightio. I'll call in the shuttle and..."

The loudspeaker started up again. "Attention! I have traced the krogan release. Okeer, of course." I walked to a nearby window, the rest of his squad joining me, as we finally got to see the person behind the voice. "I'm calling a blank slate on this project. Gas the commandos and start over from Okeer's data. Flush the tanks!"

Okeer went into a rage immediately, and I was left wondering if he was going to fully release and we'd have to put him down. Thankfully, he calmed down after a few moments. "Shepard, you want information on the Collectors? Stop her. I'll do what I can here."

I smirked. I should have known he would be aware. But I still asked, "Can't you just start over, like she suggested?"

The krogan shook his head. "No. He is pure. I cannot duplicate the results. He must survive."

"Okay, we'll take care of it."

"Kill her, Shepard. I will stay here and... do what I have to do."

We ran to where Jedore had her people stationed, ready to do whatever she threatened. They were waiting for us of course, the rest of her Blue Sun army and the few krogan that had survived. Gunfire erupted and I wasn't the only one to have shields fail as we had to race to find cover. Once we were, I waited for my shields to recharge before I returned fire, keeping an eye on the big krogan. Zaeed only had eyes for Jedore, the abuse being fired at her direction causing plenty of ears to turn red. I chuckled at the rather descriptive ways of how he was going to treat her body once she was dead. Nothing perverted, he was just rather pissed off.

The krogan didn't work together, so I could do what I wanted, which was charge into them, stagger them just enough that I had space to lift my weapon, and more than one took a full shotgun blast to the face. For good measure, I'd usually add another one before sliding into cover, bullets flying over my head as I drew all the attention. I checked to see another enormous shockwave from Jack sending more Blue Suns flying, and I followed that up with another charge, knocking over two more, more blasts of my shotgun, before I was under fire yet again.

"Shepard, Jedore is isolated. I'm going after her," Zaeed yelled.

"Take company!"

"Jacob, Miranda, Jack, let's deal with the cunt. Follow me!"

As the four disappeared, I heard alarms start to cry out, looking back at the door which we'd exited. Running back towards the lab, EDI suddenly had information for me. I guess she'd been monitoring us the entire time.

"Shepard, the lab alarms coincided with a systems failure. The remaining lab systems are unprotected, and I have gained limited access."

"What about Okeer?"

"According to lab scanners, the room is flooded with toxins, and Okeer's personal life signs are failing rapidly. I recommend haste."

"Fuck, this is all we need now."

The door to the lab was locked. I had rudimentary hacking skills, Garrus asking me to move and doing what he could. Eventually the door simply unlocked itself and we walked in, glad we had helmets on, as it was clear Okeer had either killed himself, or been killed by the mercenaries. As there was no sign of any blood, it appeared he'd committed suicide. Besides the tank born krogan was a vidsceen, upon which was a message from Okeer, explaining his reasons and asking me to care for his legacy. Looking upon the tank krogan, it wasn't exactly who we'd come for, but one krogan was better than none.

"So we taking it?" Garrus asked.

"Sure, why not? Wrex was invaluable during out mission to find Saren. If this one is pure krogan, then I'm sure he'll be just as handy." I put a finger to my ear, not that I needed to. It was just force of habit. "Normandy, this is Shepard. Okeer is a no-go. But we have a package that needs collecting. Ping my position and send the shuttle."

"No problem, Commander. ETA five minutes."

"Oh, and Joker. This package? It's a big one!"

Zaeed returned with the rest moments later, and it was clear the fight had been brutal as two of them were nursing wounds, applying medi-gel as Zaeed looked ready to light a cigar and celebrate. Miranda met my eyes and shrugged, not that I was asking a question. It was easy to assume that Jedore was now dead, and I figured Zaeed had done what he needed to do. "Can they identify her body?"

"Unlikely considering her face is now full of bullets."

"Understatement, you crazy son of a bitch," Jacob muttered.

"I told you I was going to deal with her. I did just that."

"You could have gotten us killed!"

"But you're not dead, so lighten up, Jacob!"

The shuttle arrived a couple of minutes later, able to hover in the right position so we could wheel the tank onto it. Once we were all on board, I shut the door and it immediately took off back towards the Normandy. It was a short flight, nearly everyone taking a seat, removing their helmet and grabbing a bottle of water from the little fridge that was on board. Garrus handed me one, which I necked in about ten seconds, wiping my brow as I looked over the krogan. "Big boy," I muttered.

Wheeling the tank off the ship, we gathered around it again. The krogan was still asleep, probably kept under until he was woken up by myself. "Okay, might as well just open it now."

"Are you sure, Shepard?" Garrus asked nervously, "Don't want to give it some thought before doing it."

"Nope." I looked at my friend and he simply chuckled. "Look, we were meant to be getting a krogan. I want a krogan. One thing though. EDI, can you tell me anything about this krogan before I do open it."

"One moment, Shepard. I will scan the tank." EDI paused a beat. "The subject is an exceptional example of the species. Fully formed primary, secondary and tertiary organs. The only negative genetic marker is the presence of the genophage."

"Hang on a second. I thought Okeer designed this krogan as not having the genophage or have I missed something?"

"I cannot guess as to what Okeer's intentions were, Shepard. I can only tell you what I have found."

"Yeah, fair enough."

"Weird he'd go to all that work, even to sacrificing his life, all for a krogan who still has the genophage," Miranda muttered, "I would have thought any krogan with half a brain would be wanting a cure for it."

"Well, I'm getting what I want. Zaeed, Jacob, cover me as I open it up. The rest of you should just stand back. No idea how he's going to react when woken up. Good thing is that he doesn't look armed, so we have that."

"And I guess he can only cause destruction around here," Miranda muttered.

"Oh ye of little faith," I retorted, though I took the shotgun from my back as I keyed a series of instructions on the keypad and stood back. The tank swung until it was vertical, noticing the krogan slowly wake up behind the glass before the glass doors swung open and he leapt forward. I immediately raised my shotgun, hearing a series of weapons raised behind me. "That's close enough."

The krogan stopped short, watching his eyes narrow as he took us all in. Then he burst forward faster than I expected, knocking my shotgun aside as he roared. Trying to stop myself from tripping over, I ended up being slammed into a pile of heavy crates, thankful they didn't topple over onto us. With his hand around my neck, I glanced around and met the eyes of Garrus. He read them easily and gestured to the others.

"Human. Male. Before you die, I need a name."

"I'm Shepard, formerly Commander. Need me to introduce the rest?" I tried to ask with humour, difficult as it was with a huge krogan hand trying to choke me.

"No. Mine. I am trained. I know things, but the tank... Okeer couldn't implant connection. His words are hollow."

"He didn't give you one?"

"No. I know only words. Warlord. Legacy. Grunt." The krogan paused for a second. "Hmmm. Grunt. It has no meaning to me. It will do." The krogan tightened his grip. Breathing was slightly difficult now. I glanced at Garrus again. Now the team moved, though I made sure the krogan concentrated on me. "So, I am Grunt. You are Shepard. If you are worthy of command, prove your strength and try to destroy me."

I definitely smirked. "Why do you want me to fight you? Why do you want to die?"

The krogan who had chosen to be called Grunt appeared confused by the questions. "Want? I do what I am meant to do. Fight and reveal the strongest. Nothing in the tank ever asked what I want."

"Well I'm asking. We don't have to fight. But I have plenty of enemies you can help me fight."

Grunt was silent for a moment, considering my proposal. "Hmmm. Interesting. I feel nothing for Okeer, his clan or enemies. That imprint failed. He has failed."

"So what will you do?"

The enormous krogan put further pressure on my neck and I definitely choked more than once. There was little I could do, trapped between a rock, well, a krogan and a hard place. "Without a reason, one fight is as good as another. Might as well start with you."

"What about Okeer? What about what he wanted?"

"Okeer was nothing but a voice. If I have been created to be stronger than him, then he is not worthy. I feel nothing for Okeer. I feel no connection to him."

"I have a good ship. A strong crew. A strong clan. Join me, and you will make it stronger."

Grunt peered at me, his eyes narrowing as he leaned closer, glaring back at him. "An interesting proposal. If you're weak and choose weak enemies, I'll have to kill you."

"Our enemies are strong. You will find them worthy. You will find my team worthy. Do not doubt that. Most importantly, I will give you a fight. And many enemies to kill."

Grunt was silent again for a moment before he nodded the once. "Very well. I find your proposition... acceptable. For the meantime. I'll fight for you, Shepard."

"Good choice." There must have been something in my voice, as only then did he glance around to see weapons aimed at his head. That simply made him laugh as he finally released me, allowing me to take a deep breath. Bending over, hands on my knees, I took a few deep breaths before I righted myself. "Okay, so you're calling yourself Grunt. As I said, I'm Shepard and you're on the Normandy. This is my team but we'll do introductions later. First thing first, I'm taking you up to the med-bay. I have no idea what Okeer did to create you, so I just want some tests done first. After that, we'll find you some quarters and go from there. Sound good?"

"Good enough, Shepard. I hope you prove worthy."