Life Travelling Through Fiction

"What is it now?"

"Out scouts have just reported back. They spotted unusual activity south of the capital ruins." One of my more competent men told me.

"Can you be more specific than 'unusual activity'?"

"Yes, Mam. It was a group of humans digging around in a crater. Most of them work the same white full body armor with an orange insignia on it. There was also one that stood out with no mask and advanced tech."

"Hmm. You're dismissed I need to make a call." I tell him as I walk off to call Silva to find out what I have to deal with now. Long-distance calls are always a bit of a pain, but I made sure Suki set it up before I left. Connecting directly to our shared info network, I open up a communications line to Silva.

"Silva!"

"Gah! Toph, I know your new to this whole long-distance communication thing, but when you call someone you're supposed to wait until they answer you."

"Whatever. Do you have any idea why a bunch of humans with orange insignia and white body armor would be on Tuchanka"

"Well, that's probably Cerberus. Although what are they doing on Tuchanka?" He pauses for a moment in contemplation before getting a look of realization "Are they digging for something?"

"Seems like they are"

"Oh umm, they may be trying to find the planet-destroying bomb the Turians left after the Rebellion."

"The What? That would have been nice to know about"

"Well maybe you should have said something before running off"

"I guess I have to go deal with that. At least there aren't any other plots to completely kill us" I say as I notice Silva making a strained smile. "Another one! What is it now?"

"It's not new per se, but the shroud the Salarians made to clean up the radioactive fallout is also used to distribute genophage strains."

"Oh everybody already guessed that, but it's good to know for sure."

"I'm sending you a program right now, it will remove any remote access controls and Salarian overrides for the shroud."

"Sounds like a plan, See ya." I tell him as I hang up, which I'm sure will annoy him.

"I need two teams!" I announce to my clan. "First team is coming with me to diffuse a bomb and deal with some human terrorists. The second team is going to make a digital delivery to the shroud." After some quick organization and briefing, the two teams were off toward their missions.

My team and I rode toward the last know location of the Cerberus operatives. Crossing the barren landscape in a Tomakah, a Krogan sized off-terrain troop carrier. I'm inclined to just let my battle-hungry boys go all out. The prospect of the bomb going off does give me pause though. But if we do this quiet, Cerberus might have more time to arm the bomb. But if we go in guns blazing they may rush to arm the bomb. Huh, I guess both have their flaws, might as well let my men do what they're good at, and I'll make sure the bomb doesn't go off.

"Ok men we're getting close to the dig site. When we get there I'm leaving all the grunts to you all. Go crazy I'll take care of the bomb." I tell them being met cheers and hoorahs.

The Tomakah stops letting us dismount back onto the surface of the planet. Once out of the Tomakah the site was immediately within view. We saw it and the Cerberus agents saw us putting them all on high alert. My men started to charge the dig site directly into the line of fire, and I couldn't very well let them beat me there. I covered my self in a barrier and charged forward separate from my men.

I rapidly got to the cliff overlooking the quarry. I sensed where the bomb was and made a B-Line to it, ignoring any opposition in my way. I reach the bomb enclosure amid a barrage of bullets. Inside I find a bomb, larger than I am, already armed and ticking. I look at the nearby console with no luck, it displays the countdown with no way of stopping it.

I'm not an expert in bomb defusal, but I'm fairly confident I shouldn't just melt or rip apart a live thermonuclear bomb. Drop it off in the warehouse? No. Don't even want the chance that it might blow up in there. Okay, crazy idea time. I clear out the roof above me, giving me a clear view of the sky. I focus my biotics around the bomb dropping its weight to near zero and reinforcing the structural integrity. Then I focus on the earth below me, before stomping the ground raising the earth below the bomb. The large earth pillar jerks upward launching the bomb at a fraction of the speed of light straight into the air, and in less than a second out of the atmosphere.

Suddenly I sense a person had snuck up on me while I was focusing on the bomb. A point-blank shotgun shell drops my barrier and I just barely avoid a sword slash to the throat. I react by turning the ground to lava in front of me. The man in a cybernetic black suit tries to jump out the way but leaves himself open to a biotic strike sending him back down into the lava. Then without warning, he explodes sending me and chunks of lava through the bomb enclosure wall.

"Ugh, that hurt" I groan on the ground. "That prick used a nuke and a suicide vest. At least I don't have to deal with any more assassins." Unless people start sending assassin unrelated to the drawbacks... I hope my drawback assassin isn't outsourcing his assassin work to others. I wonder if Suki or Silva's assassins will be worse than mine.