Mass Effect: The Forgotten Soul

Chapter Six: The Man in Black

"First, they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

The warehouse level was in disarray with movement. Most of the teams sent to the upper levels have yet to return. Drake had heard Mitchell's call for help but ignored it. He was more concerned with his safety and figured he lost too many to hold back whatever was attacking.

Drake and his teams took defensive positions around the pathways leading to the above levels. Everyone was waiting in complete silence. Drake had a hold of his Vindicator rifle, looking around the room. He still needed to figure out who or what was attacking. Was it Eclipse? Blood pack? Aria's people?

He stomped to the comm relay where another man was attempting to work. "Where the hell are our comms?" He screamed at the man. The Batarian voice shuttered back, "I... I don't" Frustrated at the lack of progress; Drake returned to the center of the room when a barrage of thumping sounds echoed throughout the warehouse floor. Explosions followed soon after and began raining death around his soldiers. A man in black emerged from the walkway in front of him, wielding an M-100 Grenade Launcher; The man confidently walked out from behind cover hip firing the weapon. This no-faced man was wearing a harness of steel chains around his torso and, to Drake's utter surprise, seemed to be dragging Mitchel behind him on his back, bound in chains. The man showed little effort in pulling him along.

The man kept firing with complete disregard at the gunfire heading back his way; The men firing quickly became victims to the deadly shrapnel. He kept moving towards Drake, dropped his Grenade launcher, and then pulled out his Viper DMR. He quickly dispatched the three men that tried to stop him with three well-placed shots, *Crack... Crack, Crack.* The men dropped over before getting off their own shots. Drake looked around him in horror, "Everyone's dead." He thought to himself. The man stopped some distance away; Drake dropped behind crates and readied his rifle.

"I've come to make an exchange." The man in black yelled with calm confidence. Drake stayed behind cover; was he all that was attacking? Drake looked behind him, looking for anything or anyone to help him. The man took off his chains and dropped them to the floor as he walked to Drake's left to get a better view. "You have someone I need; if you hand her over now, I won't have to end you." The man spoke.

Drake began to move away from where the man was trying to see him behind the crate. Drake looked at one of the dead bodies and saw it was carrying grenades; he quickly sprang up with his rifle drawn.

He began firing in full auto as he crept toward the grenades. The man reacted by ducking out of the way and behind a crate. Drake kept firing until he bent down, grabbed the belt, and got behind cover again. His adrenaline had fully peaked, and his heart was pumping at an alarming rate.

He hadn't seen combat in some time. Being a local chapter leader was more about credit flow and delegating to his underlings. While he would sometimes join in on more extensive operations, he wasn't ever in any actual harm.

The man sprinted from behind his cover, firing his rifle. Drake hesitated on peeking out as a round glanced off the edge of the crate right above his head, forcing him to recoil back behind his cover. The man continued to move closer, firing every so often in an attempt to keep Drake suppressed. He pulled one of the grenades out and exposed himself as he threw the grenade toward the direction of the gunfire.

The grenade detonated with an ear-piercing bang that echoed off the walls. The explosion also caused a chain reaction with one of the crates, which exploded in a massive fireball. After Drake recovered, he peeked out to see fire and carnage and quickly headed towards the impact with his rifle raised to his shoulder. He climbed onto one of the crates to find the man on the ground, disoriented and trying to get up.