"Welcome to the source of the Locust." I told them as we stepped onto the New Hope Research Facility.
"Why the hell are we even here?" Baird asked, "Couldn't you just lead us to the Nexus?"
"The COG would rather risk the truth getting out than a xeno leading its army into a killzone." I answered using logic.
"Makes sense." Baird agreed, "So what are we going to find here."
"The sires." I told him, "Mutated children made during the research to cure Rustlung. They are the precursors of the Locust."
"For real?" Baird asked.
"Yep." I answered, "And if you guys are lucky, which all observable metrics indicate, then you'll figure out that the facility was moved to Mount Kadar, where the Nexus is now located."
I ended up playing cards with Baird and Cole as we were left to defend the transports while the rest of our nine man team went into the facility.
Fortunately the Locust showed up to kill us in another stunning display of their capacity to predict and head off threats to their objectives.
At least the ride to the mountain was comfier with two of Tai's red shirts killed in action.
The ride into the inner mountain was fun because they let me operate the cannon. The fact that I could nail every target with near AI like precision made the trip smooth sailing. In the depths of the mountain we encountered a group of Stranded living in the Hollow. It was fucking insanity that these people moved towards the Locust for 'safer' conditions. The various groups that did so were already being processed and these people just shrugged and waited their turn.
Marcus sent Cole and Baird back up to the surface with them in a show of compassion that had my stomach turning. I fully believe that some people are too stupid to live, and these people are deeply entrenched in that category.
As we made our way down to the subterranean lake that separated us from the path to the Nexus, Dom noted a little rowboat we could us to cross.
"Fuck that." I declared, "I am taking that in the name of the glorious Krogan Empire."
The Locust showed up in a patrol barge powered by another domesticated and genetically engineered animal. To think that all the various fucked up and handy creatures used by the Locust were made by one guy who reacted to the Locust mutation with a massive increase in intelligence rather than a decrease. The smartest thing the COG ever did was kill him at all cost.
In a burst of speed that would make a Triple Crown winning race horse jealous I leapt onto the barge and sent the crew flying into the lake with golf swings from the Hammer of Might.
The Gears joined me on the barge and I led them down the fastest route to the Nexus.
"Breathe it in boys." I told them as we traversed a section of river sending imulsion fumes into the air, "Rustlung and Lambency."
"Lambency?" asked Tai.
"You spend enough time around imulsion and it will mutate you into a semi-sentient rabid killing machine." I explained, "The Locust are trying to flood the Hollow by sinking Jacinto in an attempt to drown the Lambent and restart their society on the surface as far from the imulsion as they can get."
"Is that why they attacked us on E-Day?" Marcus questioned.
"That, and their nature." I said as we came up to the falls.
"This next part is going to be fun. Hold on tight!" I shouted as we shot off the falls into the pond below.
"They got a big ol' tentacle monster down here." I grinned as I pulled out my Torque bow, "Shoot any of the tentacles that try to pull us under. I'll be ready with the kill shot."
The Gears followed my instruction but the last red shirt got smashed by a tentacle and internally bled to death. When the tentacle beast rose up to take a bite out of our boat I put a high explosive arrow down its throat and turned the back of its head into a fine pink mist.
I took a big breath, "Smells like victory… and sashimi. Fuck I am hungry."
I pulled a bit of lake monster meat off the ship and dug in, surprised when Tai joined me.
"You think I got this big without a big appetite?" He joked with blood in his teeth and took another bite, "Damn this is good."
I nodded my head and added Tai to my mental list of friends for life.
The for of us disembarked the patrol barge and found the highway to the Nexus, but Dom wanted to search for his wife in the opposite direction of the mission.
"That ability to give yourself hope even when the path ahead is at its hardest and darkest." I commented, "I admire that about you. You have a lot of inner strength, Dom. Prepare for hope to die, because nothing good awaits you down this path."
"You don't know that!" He screamed, "Not for sure."
"And that is why I will go with you." I told him with a hand on his shoulder.
"We need to get the beacon planted in the Nexus!" Marcus countered, "In the opposite direction."
Dom shook his head and Tai looked at Marcus in disappointment, "After what you did for your father, I thought you would understand." stated Dom as he turned to leave.
"Fuck…" Marcus signed after taking a few deep breaths, "Dom, wait up."
We didn't find anything good down that path.
"We are going to avenge her like few others have ever been avenged, brother." I told the shaky man who continued the march with us to the Nexus.
"We can sneak in pretty easy." I said and Marcus nodded his head having scouted the path in already, "But why would we do that when there is fury and pain to be unleashed on waiting bodies?"
We locked and loaded and kicked in the metaphorical front door when we began our loud and proud assault on the Locust capital. Myrrah kept up with her PSA's blaring out for her loyal horde while we gunned them down in a blazing trail of glory and blood. When our assault penetrated deeply enough the squad Jack-bot began broadcasting our location to the surface, calling in the cavalry.
Cole and Baird met up with us and we took a gondola to the Queen's Palace. As we penetrated deeper into her territory we encountered the Lambent taking it to the Locust hard and fast.
"Damn." I commented, "If the glowies have made it this far the Locust are fucked."
"What's going on over there?" Marcus asked.
"Lambent are hostile to everything non Lambent." I answered, "Everything is susceptible to Lambency, but the Locust are especially so with their imulsion mutated bodies. The Locust have been loosing the war for survival against them from the start, but if they are here in the palace, then the war is almost over and it will be the human's on the chopping block next."
The solution came in the form of an Adam Fenix audio log located in the Queen's broadcast room. Sink Jacinto and the seawater will drown both the Locust and the Lambent. Command got the intel from their link with the team Jack-bot and began the process of evacuating the last great human city.
They'd have victory no matter the cost.