The Firefly (Mass Effect Andromeda)

Chapter 64

It was slippery up there. Olivia crawled along the pipe, keeping low as stray bullets whizzed past her. Scott came floating up too on Nina's power, landing upon the pipe beside her, sliding across the hard surface towards the curved edge. He cried out and Olivia threw herself towards him.

Her hand wrapped around his wrist.

"Hold onto me!" She cried out, and hauled him up. "We need to get the rope to Nina."

It was in her pack. She wrestled with the zip, dropping it down into the smoke and praying it wouldn't immediately become food to the fire. As she fastened it around her waist and Scott anchored her, she felt a tug of Nina climbing the rope.

The bangs of gunfire continued below as the others fought. She could just about make out a few figures in the smoke but doubted they'd have spotted the trio escaping onto the pipes, as Nina was pulled over the top.

"Thanks." Her sister said breathlessly.

"We need to get further up and across." Olivia coughed, "It's that pipe up there, the cracked one." She pointed.

Scott and Nina were taller than her, climbing from pipe to pipe with enviable ease. They had to keep stopping for her.

Scott leapt across a gap fearlessly, landing neatly on his feet and using his omnitool to slice away the vines wrapped around it, letting a pod drop into the flames below. "Just jump." He called over his shoulder, "It's right above us now."

"I can't jump this." Olivia gasped. "It's too high."

"You're brave." Scott called to her. "Do it. You can."

"We'll jump together." Nina promised. She took Olivia's hand. "On three. Run and jump. Three...two...one!"

The two women sprinted across the pipe and leapt over the abyss. Olivia felt as if her whole body hung weightless in midair for a split second before the edge of the next pipe was rushing towards her. Scott reached and pulled them both in as they landed heavily.

"I knew you could do it." He grinned at her. "Right, onto my shoulders and you can get into the crack in the pipe."

There was no time for fear as her sister and boyfriend lifted her and she scrambled into the oxygen pipe, nudging tendrils out of the way to get inside. A young Creeper stared at her as she landed beside.

Olivia screamed, rolling away as the monster, in its surprise took a moment to attack.

"Olivia!" Scott yelled up.

She scrambled into her feet, dazed as it lunged at her. She fired once, twice, three times, but the Creeper wasn't going down easily. She ran deeper into the pipe and it chased her, the screeching metal sound close on her heels.

Nina and Scott had climbed up by then. She could hear them shouting for her, but she couldn't stop running. Her gun just wasn't effective enough against the monster. As she rounded another corner, she spotted a gap in the pipe.

At the last second, she jumped, pinwheeling over and slamming down on her side.

The Creeper didn't see the hole until too late. It skidded and fell, disappearing into the fire below. Panting, she lay on her side. Her mask had come loose and she coughed, breathing in lungfuls of smoke. Footsteps thudded. A hand pushed her mask back into place as she began to black out. "For goodness sake, Liv." She heard Nina. "Can I leave you for five minutes without you finding trouble?"

She started to laugh.

Scott took her hands, hauling her onto her feet. "Let's move."

They hurried down the pipe, climbing up and down as it twisted and turned. "I can't believe the plan worked...so far anyway." Olivia grinned in relief as they fled. "They will all believe that we are dead, perished in the fire."

"Kendra will still be suspicious." Scott pointed out, "It seems too obvious for all three of us to vanish."

"But she can't detect us in the pipes...right?" Nina asked.

"Right." Olivia answered. "We're taking this place back, once and for all." She had studied the pipe system through the console, but had had limited time. It was a maze. It took them hours of hiking, occasionally peering through the gated vents to try and understand where they were.

Finally, they found themselves above the room filled with cryogenic pods. "Do you think the others will be back yet?" Nina asked.

"I doubt it." Scott answered. "That's if any survived." He grimaced, thinking of the flames and the monsters in that terrible room.

"So we can get them out before anyone knows we're gone." Olivia said. "You two stay up there, be ready to start hauling us up when I wake them."

"Be careful." Scott murmured.

Olivia dropped down onto the floor, running straight to the controls. She focused on Lyora's pod and it clicked and opened. The Asari groaned as she woke, sitting up slowly. Olivia didn't hesitate, going next to Vee and then Drack and finally Liam.

"Liv...What?" Lyora moaned, disoriented.

"Ssh!" Olivia hissed. "I'm breaking you guys out of here."

Liam seemed quickest to adjust, though he looked a little nauseous. "Where to, Taylor?" He asked without preamble. Scott and Nina helped him climb into the pipe behind the vent, followed by Lyora who floated up with her biotics. Drack was hard work to squash through, followed by Vee.

"What's going on?" Vee asked urgently after kissing Nina.

"No time to explain yet. Just follow quietly." Scott answered as the reunited group hurried on.