Mass Core 2: Crimson Horizon

The walls seemed to swim as Oriana ran, her peripheral sight fading as her vision focused entirely on the bleeding woman before her. This was the Oriana of Before- -before the countless hours of training, the heavy genetic enhancements and cybernetic upgrades. Before Cerberus, and before she had slain countless hundreds in the name of protecting Earth- -and decades before her introduction to an irritable and at the time extremely pregnant cannibal.

She raced to her sister’s side. Oriana felt her hands shaking. There was so much blood. She had learned CPR in school, but she had no idea what to do for something like this.

“Mir- -Miranda, hold on!” she said, pushing her hand against the deep stab wounds in her chest. There was a crunch as she felt the pulverized remnants of Miranda’s ribs shift against her pressure, and Miranda barely reacted. That made it so much worse. “I- -I need medigel!”

“It’s too late,” said Miranda. She coughed, and blood trickled out of her mouth. “I’m sorry…I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you…”

“Don’t say that! It’s going to be okay!”

Miranda gasped, and reached up, grabbing Oriana. “At least…you are safe. That’s all I ever wanted. It’s why I joined Cerberus. I need you…to know that. To keep you- -and the others- -to keep them safe.”

“I know, I know, Miranda- -”

“I don’t have much time. Please, Oriana, listen…” she winced. “I’m dying. I can’t protect you anymore. I wish…I wish I could. Just promise me…that you’ll keep going. To do what I was too weak to do.”

“Miranda!” Oriana took her sister’s hand. She could barely see through the tears. “I- -I will. I promise. You don’t have to worry.”

Miranda smiled. She reached up and touched Oriana’s face, leaving a bloody smear. “Cerberus gave me so much. Let them…let them help you.” She took a ragged breath. “Thank…you…”

Her eyes lost focus, and Miranda collapsed in Oriana’s arms. She suddenly felt so heavy.

“Mir…Miranda? Miranda?” Oriana shook her sister, even though she already knew that she was gone. She had only just started to get to know her- -and now she was gone.

Footsteps sounded from behind her. A group of soldiers approached. Their leader was a handsome man in black N7 armor. As he came to a stop, Oriana looked up and saw the shock and hurt on his face. She also became aware of his companions: a turian with a badly scarred face, a quarian in purple, and another human with misty blue eyes and red and yellow striped hair.

“She’s…she’s dead,” wept Oriana.

As she said it, she felt herself choke. Her voice had shifted tone, and she suddenly became aware of an unbearable pain in her chest- -and then the world began to change. The dim, hazy view of the hallways surrounding her shifted and shimmered as changed, and Oriana looked down at Miranda.

“Mir- -Miranda, hold on!” she said. “I- -I need medigel!”

“It’s too late,” said Miranda. She coughed, and blood trickled out of her mouth. “I’m sorry…I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you…”
“Don’t say that! It’s going to be okay!”

Miranda gasped, and reached up, grabbing Oriana. “At least…you are safe. That’s all I ever wanted. Cerberus…they took everything from me. Every chance I had at life. Everything I ever wanted for you.”

“Mir…Miranda?” Oriana was not sure why this felt so familiar- -so much more real than what should have been happening. “I don’t understand…”

“Please, don’t ever understand. What they made me…” Her eyes widened, and she grasped Oriana’s shoulder tightly. She smiled through the pain. “I failed, Oriana. I failed. I wish I could have been there…for you…but you’re going to have to go on without me.”

“Miranda!” Oriana took her sister’s hand.

“Please…don’t become like me. Don’t let Cerberus take you. Don’t ever stop fighting. Live your life. Have friends, fall in love, do what makes you happy. Be free. Please…please, Oriana. Promise me you can do this…”

“I- -I promise!”

Miranda smiled. “Thank…you…”

Her eyes suddenly lost focus, and her grip went limp. Once again, Oriana watched as her sister died in her arms.

Oriana shot awake, screaming. Immediately she became aware of the pain in her head, as though it were being split apart- -and of one of her arms pointing upward into the air, a hole cut into the deck above it.

Gasping for breath, Oriana sat up, clutching her head. Her mind was racing, and she felt confused- -but things were coming together. Crystalizing in her consciousness. Memories and timelines that should not have made sense but somehow did.

She stood up and pulled on her jumpsuit. As she did, she paused, her eyes lingering on the white fabric and the orange Cerberus symbol in the center. It was more modern, but it was almost the same. The same as the bloodied and torn uniform that her sister had worn twenty three years earlier on that day.

The 192 was in its night cycle, or the closest thing it had to a night cycle. The lights were mostly out, and the hallways were dark- -but they were always dark. Bob did not like bright lights, and Oriana felt like she had been in the dark for so long that she could hardly remember what proper light looked like.

Her high-heeled boots clicked against the floor unevenly as she walked, meandering through the otherwise silent hallways. She was not sure how long she walked, or where exactly she was going. Her headache had slowed, but at the same time, she had become increasingly confused. As if nothing around her was real.

Toward the lower deck, she stopped. Beside her was a window, and Oriana realized that she had arrived at the medical bay. She pressed her hand against the window and looked inside. Through the glass, she could see the occupants inside, lit by the dim glow of the machines keeping Four alive.

Seven was no longer in her own bed. She had only undergone the first part of her surgery, and a substantial portion of her horn had been cut away. Despite her rear legs being entirely paralyzed, though, Seven had crossed the room and now lay curled at the foot of her sister’s bed.

Oriana stared at this scene for a long moment, watching them sleep. Then she pulled herself away from the window and started down the hall. Things were becoming clearer- -so much horribly clearer.

She stumbled, and a hand with enormously long and thin fingers emerged from the darkness, grabbing her shoulder to stabilize her.

“Bjorn,” said Oriana, “where is Bob? I need to see her. NOW.”

A repeated clanging sound emanated from one of the lower holds as Oriana approached. It would almost always be followed by low swearing. Bob, it seemed, slept precious little. Or she was nocturnal. Oriana was not sure, nor did she care.

Entering the room, Oriana found Bob standing in the center completely naked. One of her arms- -the one injured in the battle on the orbital mining platform- -had now been entirely replaced with an almost oversized robotic version that looked like it had been pulled off of a geth.

In that hand, Bob was holding a bizarrely shaped gold-colored knife. The sound of metal clanging was from her attempting to throw the knife up in the air and catch it. She would inevitably fail, and the knife would clatter to the ground. Even as Oriana entered the room, Bob continued to do this.

“Damn it,” she said, picking up the knife again. She poked one of the hoses that connected the robotic arm to her torso with an extended index finger. “The reaction speed is damn low. I HATE having to use this thing. Why the hell do they ALWAYS go for my damn arm? What did my arm ever do to them?”

“Bob…”

“You like it?” Bob raised the blade. “It’s made entirly out of unobtanium. Or at least that’s what they told me. Apparently, its ceremonial or something. Nobody’s sure because I dropped a biological weapon on the planet where its creators used to live. But I must have been high as FUCK because I don’t remember- -”

“Bob!”

Bob looked up, and her eyes narrowed. Oriana could tell that Bob had known something was wrong from the moment they had seen each other- -perhaps even before. “What do you want? Because I’m not into girls.”

“My sister,” said Oriana. “How did she die?”

“That’s what you came to ask me? You already know that. She got penetrated by Kai Leng.” Bob threw the knife into the air. “Something you Lawsons excel at, apparently.” She grabbed the hilt of the knife out of the air. “Hey! I got it that time!”

“When she died, she asked me to join Cerberus. To continue the work she failed to complete. Except that she DIDN’T. Did she?”

Bob was holding the knife by its tip, about to throw it up in the air again- -but stopped. She blinked at Oriana, and then threw her head back. “Fuuuuuuuuck,” she said.

Oriana’s gaze hardened, and she knew. She wanted to pummel the stinking, ugly degenerate in front of her- -but she refrained, instead balling her fists. “You knew?”

“Knew what?”

“Don’t toy with me, Robette!” snapped Oriana, charging one of her fists with enough biotic energy to cause any object in the room that was not bolted to the deck to start to slide toward her. “Unless you want me to disconnect your head from your body.”

“Just calm down,” said Bob, rather nonchalantly. “Damn it, they warned me that this would happen- -”

“WHAT would happen? What do you know, Robette? TELL ME!”

“Just chill, DAMMIT!” Bob sighed again, then groaned and leaned against a large crate. “You’re right. At least probably. I don’t know, I wasn’t there. But Cerberus may have…eh…tweaked your memory a little bit.”

“What did you do to me?!”

Bob’s eyes narrowed. “Me? You think I actually had anything to do with this?”

“But you KNEW!”

“Of course I knew. I know a lot of things! Like that every other cell was terrified to work with you for exactly this reason. That your motivation is backward and tenuous? I know that too.”

“What did they do to me?” whispered Oriana.

“Well, as near as I can figure, they captured you at some point. Then they rewrote your memory. I hear there was screaming involved. There’s supposed to be a chip in your head that keeps you sane. Looks like it broke.”

“The blast,” said Oriana, feeling the spot in her chest where the alien creature’s biotics had hit her barely twenty four hours before. Her hand ran to her head. “They burnt it out…”

“It certainly looks that way.” Bob pushed herself off of the crate and slowly approached Oriana. “But it’s okay. We can fix this.”

“FIX? I’m not broken!”

“Aren’t you? Because you seemed a lot happier when your life had meaning.”

“Meaning? They stole- -oh dear God, they must have- -” Oriana felt as though she was choking. “Twenty years- -TWENTY YEARS! They stole my life!”

“A life up until a few minutes ago you enjoyed. For some reason. That’s what I’m saying.” Bob stepped closer, and motioned for Oriana to lower her charged hand. Oriana hesitated, and then lowered it slowly. “We can deal with this. Together.” Bob was using the same tone she did when she spoke to her daughters, and Oriana found it somewhat calming. “We can take you back to a Cerberus HQ. They can fix the chip, make this whole thing go away. You can get your ideology back. Go back to protecting Earth and the weak and innocent and whatever.”

“You want- -you can’t be serious!”

Bob suddenly frowned, and raised the knife. She was holding it by the blade and pointed the base of the hilt at Oriana’s head. “Now, listen,” she said, her voice slow and methodical and her tone drastically changed. “I work for Cerberus, but I’m only in it for the money. So I’m willing to offer you a choice. Let us help you, or not. It’s simple, but make very, very sure that you understand the choice you’re making. Am I clear?”

Oriana looked Bob square in the eye. “NO.”

Bob moved almost instantly. Oriana tried to react, raising her hands to defend herself, but Bob was far faster than an ordinary human. Oriana felt an impact against her forehead, and her body suddenly went limp. There was a strange cracking sound and a distant pain as Bob turned the blade and then pulled it out, leaving Oriana to fall to the floor.

“Wrong answer,” she said, licking the blood and residual brain matter off the blade.

The last thing Oriana saw was the eyes. Several pairs of enormous violet eyes descending upon her. Their sharp teeth as they emerged from the shadows, their pony lips salivating with the thought of a fresh meal. Bob knelt down beside them, bearing her own teeth, and she and her daughters descended. The last thing Oriana felt before the world faded to black was their teeth sinking into her flesh, tearing pieces of her away, killing her just as Cerberus had killed her sister so many years ago.