The Firefly (Mass Effect Andromeda)

Chapter 56

           

Everything hurt. But she had done it, collapsing to the floor of the console room as Scott and Drack got their bearings. "Liv!" Nina cried out, crouching down beside her. Olivia could hardly see her, her vision distorted by the pain of the headache.

"I'm fine." She gasped out, wiping her nose. "We all made it, didn't we?"

"Yeah, everyone's here, but you look terrible." Vee acknowledged.

Lyora pushed her way through the concerned crowd of people to kneel at her side, taking her pulse and looking into her eyes, scanning her with her omnitool. "You need medical attention but not urgently. You'll be fine for now." She pronounced, "Despite the headache."

"Told you." Liv said grumpily, allowing Liam to pull her to her feet. Scott was giving her that concerned look and she tried to ignore it. "So what's next?"

"I thought we'd meet immediate resistance." Scott mused. "She mustn't have thought we'd make it through, even if we realised Kendra was here."

Lyora and Olivia both shook their heads in unison. "Don't be fooled into a false sense of security." Lyora warned. "Kendra is wily. Just because we weren't gunned down on arrival doesn't mean she isn't watching."

"That depends on how much control she's managed to take." Scott pointed out. "We told you that the place is overrun."

"So how are we going to do this?" Drack asked. "Blast everything on sight?"

"Except Sara." Olivia said dryly.

"If you see a monster," Scott said, "Shoot it. Otherwise hold your fire unless it shoots back." He looked at Olivia. "You spent longer here than me, conscious anyhow. Do you remember much of the way?"

"I know enough." She said tremulously, "but there will probably be creepers."

"Great. Monsters. All we need." Drack sighed.

Olivia indicated the way but the others insisted on keeping her at the centre of the group and no amount of twisting would convince otherwise. We need you to get home, they all pointed out, which was true, but annoying when she just wanted to help.

They passed a hall full of pods, glowing with amber light and stepped over tendrils of vines snaking their way around. The sight filled her with fear, but the air was lacking that creaking, granting sound that indicated the adult creeper was near.

Vee tried a door which opened into a huge circular hall, filled with violet light from numerous panels and consoles. It was also heavily stained with blood and gore.

"What the..." Liam trailed off.

The room stank of death, rot and the heavy smell of viscera. There were dead creepers everywhere, strewn around in bits like macabre confetti, but among them were several human corpses, all torn apart viciously and certainly not recognisable in death.

"You been here before, Taylor?" Liam asked her.

"No." Olivia replied, not knowing what to say at the gory sight.

"It was one hell of a fight." Nina said approvingly.

"We should keep moving." Scott looked on edge.

They hurried onwards, gingerly stepping over the corpses of the dead creatures and deeper into the base. They were lost, Olivia knew, the place was vast and she didn't recognise any of where they were.

Finally, they opened a door on a startled Turian. Drack took him down in two shots. "Looks like we're on the right track."

"He hadn't shot at us." Scott pointed out, a little reproachful.

"Yeah but he was going to." Drack retorted. "Come on, kids."

They met some limited resistance in the corridors but it was few and far between, shots fired from random rooms, pushing them or leading them onwards on a bloody path to what?

It was then that they slid open a door into a control room that Olivia recognised. She had walked through here with Evra before.

A familiar figure stood on the upper walkway, flanked by snipers. A red dot had settled on Olivia's face, another on her chest. A small army was waiting with guns upon them. Liam and Scott were reaching for weapons.

"I don't think so." Kendra said smoothly. "Not this time. I have two snipers on your little girlfriend who have been ordered to fire if they even think you're going to twitch." Olivia saw Scott's eyes notice the dots on her person, saw the fear and panic cross his face as he let his hands fall to his side.

"Where's my sister?" He asked with gritted teeth.

"You didn't honestly think I would just let you waltz in here? I suppose you didn't have a choice. I've been watching you on the monitors." Kendra said easily. "You should have known better by now than to just walk into someone else's base and not expect to get trapped." She winked at Olivia. "Look what happened with the Kett."

Fury churned inside of her, impotent and helpless. She held her tongue.

Disappointment crossed the older women's face for a fleeting moment. "Separate them." She said casually to her followers. "Take their weapons." Her companions started to grumble, but stopped when Kendra pointed at Liv.

Olivia watched helplessly as they were elf from the room one by one. "Where are you taking them?" She asked desperately.

"Oh, don't worry. I don't intend to kill them. I'm just putting them to sleep for a while. We'll join them shortly."

"Stay strong, sis." Nina called back as she was marched out.

Olivia was still dumbfounded did. Even with changing Sara's implant, how had Kendra managed to get so many people into the base. Olivia herself couldn't have done it. What did that mean for Sara? Was she even alive? She saw her worries mirrored in Scott's eyes as they stood there together, alone.

Kendra smiled, descending. "Let's go for a walk, shall we?"