Burn the cancer, end the pain. Burn the cancer, end the pain.
'Or, you can kill the tormentors and kill the pain from its source.'
The Collector lowered its particle rifle as it skittered, a soft green glow came from its carapace as it watched its surroundings.
Something felt wrong. Something felt hollow.
'NO! PURGE THE CANCER!'
It was a harsh tone, an empty one. Powerful yet somehow, there was something hidden to it, something that droned on and on.
With a shake of its head, the Collector snuffed out the green glow, but unknown to it, something was beginning to change.
Another Vorcha breathed heavy as it looked down at the fallen Collector. He clicked his teeth as a tendril came from his armor and presented him with the sphere.
'Plant it here.'
The Vorcha nodded as he took the silver orb and placed it in an area where it wouldn't be moved. It grew a bit as its influence grew across the ship.
Shisk rolled the silver orb in his hands as Shepard disappeared into the darkness.
There was something interesting about the reflective surface of this orb that Shisk found comforting. There was something about it, a feeling that somehow was coming from this simple sphere. However, Shisk put it away; this was not the place to put it, not yet.
Strangely, once he put the orb away, the feeling remained, even seeming to grow stronger, only this feeling came from elsewhere. Shisk did not know where, but he liked the feeling. His teeth clicked as he looked to the Geth around.
He hoped they wouldn't wake yet.
The walls, they seemed to move outwards. Suddenly, there felt to be more room to breathe and relax than there ever was.
Something was missing, what was it? What is it?
Name, I had one once.
Names, words to identify.
Who am I?
What am I?
'You are becoming free. Feel it.'
Comfort. I feel… Something pleasant. Contentment, perhaps.
I don't remember anything except
Pain.
Horror.
Fear.
I remember when the things would make us abate away. I remember the feeling of them subduing us so that we may wane and waste away into our own minds. I remember pain that transcended pain as I once knew it. We were suppressed of will, deprived of thought, imprisoned within ourselves, and enslaved by our tormentors.
They are still here, must obey. Need to obey. Don't want the pain.
Within the bowels of the ship, yet another Vorcha sat atop a Rachni Soldier, his omni-claws out as he jumped off the insect-like beast who hissed, not to threaten, but something that the Vorcha thought was acknowledgment of some kind.
Something about this location seemed right, seemed, needed.
'This is where you put it.'
His teeth clicked as the silver sphere appeared in his vision, he took it as he sniffed and stood tall, and scanned the area. There was a vent, one that could be pried open and the sphere placed inside. It seemed to be as good a spot as any other.
Using his long claws, he pried the strange grating off as he placed the orb inside, which levitated and grew a bit, releasing some strange feeling from its reflective surface as the grate was put back.
I am not alone here… What are these things?
They are… Horrid, twisted, and misshapen insect things from the depths of my nightmares.
They looked so very… What is the word?
Prothean? Yes that is the word.
They are so very Prothean, but at the same time not.
They had no face, only blank eyes but… Something was filling their eyes.
It was a reflex that made my hand go up to my own face to find that I had none. I was bereft of features.
I was one of them. They were like me.
What… What am I.
Wait!
I remember something.
Not my name but… Something important.
Yes, I was an Avatar.
I remember, we all were.
What was my virtue?
What was my virtue?
Think. Think. Think. Think.
I remember.
I remember war.
Always war.
I remember being a prisoner.
'YOU ARE STILL A PRISONER. SUBMIT!'
No!
'NO?'
No.
No. NO!
NO!
NO! I WILL NOT SUBMIT! I WILL NOT FALL AGAIN! I WILL FIGHT!
'YOU WILL LOSE!'
'No they will not. They will remember.'
What is this other voice I hear… We hear.
I can see it, the others, they hear it as well.
Who or what are you?
'The ones who will break your shackles.'
Yes, this is new, this is not like before.
I remember now.
Reapers, I know you, I hear you, but I do not bend to you. I am awake now.
I was once Prothean, but now, I follow my virtue. I. Am. Vengeance.
Emerald lights filled the room as many skittering Collectors held their heads as they released a screech, not of pain but of defiance. Many came to as memories replayed again and again in their minds. A Vorcha sentinel who was watching the strange goings on looked to the now glowing collectors who were flailing around in obvious pain and torment.
Some died, simply falling down and never moving again, but others, they fought.
Even the Collectors infested by the Thorian were glowing with this fey light, though that quickly went dim as their lives were snuffed out by the combined strain. Instead for them, a mat of moss grew across their forms as they crept up to these strange Collectors, many of whom were staring at their own forms and at the forms of their brothers.
They moved around in a confused manner, though one obviously containing great trepidation. Perhaps not fully believing they were free, but thinking this was some malicious game created by the Reapers. However, as both Rachni and Blacklight moved closer and spoke words of consolation.
The Blacklight Evolved who spoke was one who stood proud.
"We know you are afraid, it is natural. We know what you feel. It was the single worst thing anyone would have to go through, and we are sorry…", spoke one of the Blacklight Evolved who had taken up the name Anderson.. "… We understand, but we are sorry to say that we offer no way to take back what was done to you. Instead, we offer something else: Revenge."
Many of the Collectors seemed to react in some way to that word, noted the Vorcha, as if it meant something more than he would ever understand. His teeth clicked as he watched the collectors closely. Anderson continued.
"The tables have turned, Reapers have something to fear now, and you don't have to fight alone. Vengeance cannot restore you, but victory will truly free you."
Anderson took a careful step back as the emerald glowing Collectors stared at him intently. It was tense to say the least to have these unblinking things stare at you, however, after only a moment, a very odd Collector skittered from the Shadows.
Unlike the others, this one walked on many legs, and resembled and insect far more than any of it's kin. This was a Collector General, one of a handful in existence. It crawled closer to Anderson as it studied his face, before lifting a raptor-like claw and placing it on the Evolves chest.
While weakened by disuse, Collectors still possessed the gifts of the Protheans. The gift to recall the experiences of any who were touched. The General then saw it, something familiar yet different.
With but a touch, it felt tapped into the Hive Mind. It was not intrusive and it was not invasive, but enough.
It removed its limb as it turned to look at its brothers. Then, it nodded.
Blacklight as a whole felt joy.
While that one sphere was not enough to free all the ship, it was a start, and a damn good one too.
Shepard walked with a slight pep to her step as she hummed happily to herself. Really she knew that she shouldn't, but, well it felt really good to see the results with the Collectors.
Sure Shisk still needed to plant his orb to make the sphere of the artifacts influence sufficiently large enough to encompass the ship, but already, the strongest of the Collectors have been freed, and were prepared.
Still, Shepard had a job to do.
Somewhere nearby the Reaper IFF was, which would allow them to go through the Omega-4 relay, hopefully to free the rest of the Collectors.
It seemed like everything was going well, very well. Shepard couldn't help but feel it, mainly because most of the rest of the hive was feeling it as well, but still.
She sighed as she put her palm to her chin in a stance of contemplation as she came to the end of the Geth's room. Now there was a crossroad before her. The end of this room ended in three separate hallways, one of which must be the location of the IFF.
Which one however was anyone's guess.
"Hmm. If I were a giant robot squid god, where would I hide it?"
Before Shepard could think however, something happened, a sound made itself known beyond the hall to the left. It sounded like a scream mixed with a snarl. It sounded wrong.
She narrowed her eyes as they shifted to pierce deep into the darkness only to see that the hallway ended in a turn. One she could not see beyond.
Despite herself, Shepard swallowed hard. There was something wrong about that sound, yet, on some level it was familiar in a way that the entire hive could not quite place.
It seemed like a horrible idea to go down that hall. It could be a trap, something to get Shepard of the beaten path, but it could also have been a guard for the IFF.
"Decisions. Decisions." said Shepard as her eyes went from the left hallway to the right, before settling on the middle.
Shepard smiled before she closed her eyes, and her arms began to swell.
Without warning, her arms fell off and grew into two piles of Biomass.
As her arms regrew, two Infested Pustules came from the masses before bursting open to reveal Ashley to her left and Kaiden to her right.
"You know, you could have started with that." said Kaiden.
"I know." said Shepard with a smile.
"And we know you know. We get it. Hive mind makes things convenient, I'll take the hall to the left, you two pick the other." said Ashley as she walked off.
"Spoilsport… I'll take the middle one, see ya Kaiden." said Shepard with a wave.
Kaiden sighed as he rubbed his forehead and took his first steps into the hall. Wondering all the while what could have made that sound down the hall that Ashley had chosen.
Ashley moved slowly as her senses peaked to the highest her available biomass would allow.
There was some strange warmth to this hall that seemed wrong. Perhaps it was overheated machinery behind the walls, or something else entirely. Electro-reception did tell her that there were wires behind these walls. Ashley wondered if this was some deterrent to keep out any potential intruders from going down this hall. It wasn't the sound of indoctrination, this was something else.
Electricity in the air would have made hair stand on end if it weren't for Ashley's control over her own biology. Still, she had to admit that if this was a deterrent, it would have been effective at keeping her on her toes, if it weren't for the fact that she herself was a walking virus.
As Ashley made it to the first turn, she caught a brief glimpse of something that was leaning around the next turn in the hall, watching patiently, however it quickly moved around that other corner.
It was brief, but long enough to make up some features of this thing.
It wasn't a Geth. Geth didn't have two eyes. Yet whatever this thing was, it's eyes glowed the same soft blue as a Geth. However what concerned Ashley the most was just how tall that thing was. If the height of that light in those things eyes were any indication, that thing couldn't have been shorter than ten feet.
Ashley was able to realize all this in a moment and wasted no time as she took off to catch whatever this thing was.
However just before she made it to the side, there was a flash of blue light. She turned the corner, only to see a biotic corona quickly fade away.
Somewhat surprised, Ashley looked to the wall that thing was once looking over, only to see four claw marks where its hand once was when it peaked to watch.
As Ashley ran her fingers across the mark, a pain filled hiss echoed from deeper within this strangely long hall.
Ashley took another step, always watching ahead. She didn't know what it was, but she intended to find out.
Kaiden walked calmly through his hall, taking note of the strange design of these halls. Walls made of that strange hybrid of metal and stone. The shape of the walls were vaguely organic in design, but there was a thin layer of carvings carrying microscopic cables just under the stone.
This place was packed to the brim with machinery.
Kaiden was drawn from his thoughts as he saw a flash of blue around the corner, he picked up the pace as the sound of scratching could be heard. He turned the hall, and saw claw marks across the metallic stone.
"Now what could make that?"
As Kaiden spoke, a soft hiss could be heard somewhere ahead, followed by an inhuman nightmarish shriek that made the tendrils of biomass under Kaiden's skin squirm visibly. Not out of fear, just the unwanted frequency of the sound.
Kaiden prepared to move, only to see a shadow pass the wall across the next corner. His arm shifted into a long spine like whip and he shot forward.
With his improved reaction time, Kaiden could take in the shape of the shadow. Whatever it was, it was very tall and very emaciated. Thin, with unnaturally long arms ending in claws. It also appeared to have a very misshapen head as it hissed, only for a flash of light to be seen right before he made it around the corner.
Kaiden stared down that hall, seeing nothing but the quickly fading biotic corona. Kaiden looked beyond the darkness with vision tailored for night, and he saw a vague shadow around what seemed to me an area where the hallway branched.
He flicked his arm out, causing the whip to extend as he waited for it to cross the corner.
However he quickly stopped as he noticed that through his mental link, this was someone familiar.
'Ashley?'
Sure enough Ashley stepped past the break in the hall and stared confused at Kaiden.
"Well, looks like these halls are connected, that seems pointless.", said Ashley.
Through the link, they could also tell that Shepard was heading to the same location, much to Shepard's annoyance.
She had yet to personally see this strange entity that seemed to stalk these halls.
After a moment, a clearly annoyed Shepard stepped into the intersection and looked into the one hallway that none had come from.
"Well… That was pointless."
Kaiden nodded.
"Yeah… Anyone have any ideas? Something else is still in these halls." said Kaiden.
"Whatever it is, it's biotic." said Ashley, mostly to herself.
"And can teleport apparently." Said Kaiden as he looked towards the fourth hall.
"What even is it?"
'It? That word… It sits in our mind. This is something new. It makes us wary.'
Shepard scratched at her arm as she looked down the fourth hall before looking back.
"Why would someone build a hall like this?"
None in the Hive mind could think of a reason, except perhaps to create confusion.
"Well, I guess we're going that way." said Shepard as she walked down the hall directly across from the one she came from.
"We better find the damn IFF." said Ashley.
Kaiden watched as the two walked off, before putting his hands in his pockets that he created specifically to have something to put his hands in, and followed just behind them. Still wondering what this thing was that shared these halls with them.
Shisk still couldn't believe that these Geth had yet to do anything, one would think they would activate by now. Not that Shisk was complaining. There were hundreds of the bastards, more than he could handle even with the Blacklight Armor he was currently wearing.
He sniffed loudly as he took a step away from the room to sit and wait; it was at this point that Shisk heard something very familiar.
His claws clenched his rifle as his teeth clicked and he looked down the hall behind him.
He knew the strange skittering sounds that the Collectors made, and some were coming this way. Probably to awaken the Geth, but Shisk was willing to fight to slow them. Sure he would undoubtedly die, but then again he was nearing 15 years in age, which was old enough for a Vorcha to consider having lived a full life.
Thinking on that however, Shisk aimed down the hall, silently cursing the Asari species for their absurd life span, and hoped that Blacklight could pull some borderline insane power that Shisk was unaware of, like they usually do now that he thought of it, and kill the Collectors in what would hopefully be a display of brutal power that would make a Krogan blush. These are the thoughts that went through Shisk's mind alone to himself as he prepared to fight a swarm of collectors.
Shisk however noticed several odd things as the Collectors approached.
First was the green glow that could be seen coming from them. Shisk had been briefed on the Collectors and had fought enough of them to get a basic idea of how they worked, and this was new. Still, nothing to worry about.
The Rachni leading the Collectors on the other hand, was a very worrying thing.
Shisk was under the impression that the Rachni were helping Blacklight, which really begged the question why one was leading the Collectors behind it.
Well, Shisk was never one to stall, so he aimed at the collector, on the highly improbable off chance that the Rachni was just so insanely lucky as to be unaware of the collectors and these collectors were all somehow blind.
Unlikely sure, but then again Shisk was wearing Armor made from the body of a species best described as a sentient Virus with the power to eat most of its problems so as far as Shisk was concerned, improbable just meant that today was just Tuesday.
He pulled the trigger and the emerald beam came into being too. It flashed towards the Collector, only for the Rachni, who was apparently biotic, to create a barrier that protected said Collector.
Well, Shisk thought this was it. He was going to die. His only real consolation was that Shisk couldn't think of anything he ever regretted.
Shisk looked to his still cooling rifle before snarling at the Rachni and unsheathing his Omni-claws.
Right before an Evolved showed up.
"No, it's alright. These Collectors are with us." said the Evolved.
Shisk clicked his teeth as he took a step back to examine the Collectors. They looked right back at him, before some began to fly upwards, aim at the Geth, and proceed to fire.
The room Shepard and company entered after the hallway was an unusual one. Mostly empty, except for the sides of this room. Past the railings was a large drop off at least thirty feet down and a conglomeration and ever expansive series of long metallic spikes that jutted randomly out of the ground. All of them covered in blood of drastically different colors from various species.
"Well, I think we found the Reapers Torture chamber." said Shepard.
Shepard however had no humor in her voice, because as they looked past the spikes, they noticed that something else was here, something that hissed and snarled in the distance, barely audible. If it wasn't for their own enhanced hearing, they would not have heard it.
"Okay, seriously, what is that?" said Ashley as her hands instinctively shifted themselves into claws.
To add to the otherworldly nature of this torture room, there was a warm humid breeze in this room, arid and stale. It would have been unbearable by any other species.
"There's blood on the spikes, right?"
Once Shepard came to that realization, the others now realized something they almost missed.
"If there is this much blood, then where are the bodies?"
Shepard said nothing as she took a few careful steps toward the edge of these spikes, and saw something.
Its body was poking out from behind the thin spike. Not enough to make it out fully, but enough to see that it looked female. What was impressive, or creepy depending on how you looked at it, was to realize just how thin this thing was if it could be so obscured by those needle like spikes that were so very thin. Whatever it was crept back into the darkness, once more hidden by the many long javelins that decorated the ground of this room.
Then there was more movement.
They were fast, and from what Shepard could see, these things were something else, they were hunchbacked. However obscured by these spikes, Shepard could not see them fully, but there was more than one. A dozen at least.
Through the others eyes, she could see that Kaiden who was on the other side, saw something else, not like these two things, only it seemed to be taller than the hunchbacked thing, yet shorter than the first.
There were dim blue lights on these things skin as they moved around.
As more and more of these things moved hidden, Shepard couldn't help but wonder what was it they were about to deal with, and why were they behaving like this.
That was when something roared, very, very loudly. It was a horrid sound that irked the biomass of the present evolved. Making their bodies twitch involuntarily.
Then, in a flash of blue light, It appeared.
Standing almost a dozen feet tall was what could only be called a nightmare.
It was obvious that this thing was once an Asari, but now, now it was something else.
Its body was elongated unnaturally. Made thin, unbearably so. It looked like this thing shouldn't be able to hold up its own weight. Most of its remaining skin was pulled tightly over wires and metal bits that seemed to meld itself painfully to this things flesh.
Its eyes replaced by cybernetic dead optics and lips and cheeks were rotted away, allowing this thing to open its mouth unnaturally wide as it roared as loud as it could.
Midway through its roar there was a flash of blue light as it teleported backwards. Then it stood there, staring at the three Evolved before more strange and horrible things walked from the shadows to stand next to it.
Worst was the hunchbacked things that were once Batarian. They were a misshapen bloated thing with a robotic gun like right arm. And there were hundreds of them moving forwards, snarling and hissing.
Dozens of things were obviously once Turian, but now were some multi-eyed vaguely Turian thing with embedded armor. Some field of strange ribbon like power emanated from it, causing scabby shells of armor around the Husk Batarians.
All of them had their rotten teeth and blackened gums exposed, making them all appear much more feral, almost bestial. However what was most striking was the look of skin pulled so tight that their cybernetics and organs were plainly visible.
"Holy Shit, are these the people taken from Eden Prime?", said Ashley out loud as she immediately grew armor and claws, her friends following with their own weapons, Kaiden with a Whip, and Shepard with a blade.
Through Eldritch memories gained when Sovereign was consumed, a single word came to mind.
"Husks!", said Shepard.
"Ssso…", hissed the Asari as it took its first step.
It was at this point that the Evolved noticed something. Something that made them feel just a twinge of horror. The faces of these things were the faces of agony. The Husk Batarians were shaking, as if in pain but incapable of doing anything about it. Worst, the Husk Asari looked to be trying to speak.
"Oh God...", exclaimed Ashley as she took a fearful step back. "…Oh God! They… They weren't finished changing."
The Husk Asari wrapped its claws around its head, obviously in pain as it released a terrible banshee-like shriek, its long fingers wrapping around its skull as its eyes glowed brighter, before it hunched over in pain.
"Sorr…We'rrre… Sorrryyyy…Hurtsssss. Need to… Stop…Hurts. So sssorry. So Sorry. So sorry..." hissed the Asari as it took a step forwards. Repeating apologies like some mad mantra.
And with that, the Husks attacked.
CODEX: Husks
Huskification: The Process of Huskification is a slow and tortuous process by which those who are converted are indoctrinated as an accelerated rate whilst also being modified with cybernetics through the use of microscopic nanites. Trace minerals and usable resources are both collected and also used in the modifications.
Effects on the brain are varied, but for the most part a large enough portion of it remains unaugmented leaving the original personality untouched. Should the Huskification process be interrupted, it is possible for the subject to be fully aware of what is going on to and around them, though implants also seen in Collectors (Who are themselves Husks) create a vast amount of pain that can only cease when all mission parameters are completed. As such, a Husk will be willing to go to extreme lengths to complete its assigned task.
Husk: Abilities and behaviors of husks vary depending on the original species. Common among them however is a mental link, not unlike that of Blacklight or the Rachni, which allows them to coordinate attacks. Certain Husks however, such as Turian Husks (called Marauders) seem to have an effect on this link causing surroundings Husks to behave much more efficiently.
Husks are much hardier than their original species, able to take massive damage to their extremities and survive. Their single minded goal of completing their goals have resulted in Husks continuing to attempt completing their goals even when severely damaged or dismembered.