Chapter 33 - HERESY!

Shisk stood before the Reaper IFF room and clicked his teeth as he observed the vault like door separating him from his prize. He heard a ghost of a whistle in his head from Shepard, almost sounded impressed.

'That is one big wall.'

Shisk had to agree, scratching his head as he looked at the giant imposing door of esoteric obsidian metal... Or was it stone? It really looked like both at the same time. It looked less like a door, and more like a vault.

'Strong door, never seen a material like this before... I think I know just the thing.'

Within the biological material masquerading as a suit, many hollow cavities began to form. A tendril like esophagus grew, which aimed at the strange door.

The esophagus was coated with a mucus membrane over the carbon-fluorine bond of the wall of the esophagus. Within the hollow cavities formed many hormone and chemical producing organs that worked in tandem to create a fluroantimonic acid and hydrofluoric acid mixture. The corrosive acid was one of the strongest within Blacklight's arsenal. The throat like tentacle grew within it many contracting muscles that squeezed all at once and shot the acids at the door.

Shisk and Shepard watched as the door began to melt.

Very slowly...

The door hissed as the acid bubbled and ate through the alien materials.

Again... Very Slowly.

Shisk blinked as the acid made it roughly a tenth of an inch past the metal... In a door of unknown thickness.

'This... May take a while.'

Shisk sniffed.

The Collectors felt only pain from their various implants that screamed at them to kill the intruder, so that they can once again feel the bliss, but Blacklight would not stay dead.

Unknown to Blacklight, the Collectors were getting more and more dangerous. Their want of Blacklight's death was greater than anything even Blacklight would ever know. To feel pain, a Reapers pain was a mind shattering event that fundamentally changed you on an intimate level.

Within the minds of all Collectors was the single-mindedness of a zealot who truly is willing to do anything to accomplish their goals.

So great was their pain that they failed to see the biomass holding the airlock open morph itself into a fleshy tunnel as thousands of the diminutive Worker Rachni swarmed outward, sprinting towards any Collector they could get to, and leaping towards them before exploding in a shower of exotic acids that melted through the ceramics of the Collector Armor. Then the Rachni Warriors swarmed outwards in a collective riot of rage at the sounds of the yellow note of Reaper Indoctrination. Their newly developed Hive mind with Blacklight protected them, but they remembered.

They remembered the Queens of old who were driven mad by that tone. They remembered their aggressive lashing out at the Citadel Races that lead to that Great War. They remembered the Krogan, who hunted them to extinction; it was only luck that Blacklight had found them. Now however, now the Rachni could get a small bit of vengeance for the injustice forced upon them by that song of subjugation.

They did not waste their chance.

Shisk found it very hard to be invested in something when the door was still in the process of melting. Melting slower than an Elcor could speak... So really really slow.

'I expected that to go by a bit quicker. This is rather dull.'

Shisk growled as the door slowly, very slowly continued melting. Roughly four inches of the door had melted away by now.

'That is one hell of a metal... stone... thing..'

Shisk agreed, and sat back as the door continued to melt.

...Very Slowly.

When the Rachni came, they were efficient. First, Hundreds if not thousands of Workers swarmed and exploded en masse to cover the Collectors in exotic chemicals that weakened their ceramic armor.

One of the Collectors, who was currently little more than a puppet of Harbinger fell onto its knees as an electronic skittering scream came from it's mandibles.

The chemicals ate through the ceramics, and burned the sensitive fiber optics that replaced the nervous system causing pain sensors to fire off all around, making the remnants of the Collector scream and causing Harbinger to lose some minor control over the body.

With the last control he had, Harbinger began to retake control of the body.

"NO, YOU WILL NOT YIELD. YOU ARE MINE."

Then something entered its view. The Harbinger Collector looked up to see the Brood Warrior of the Rachni looking down upon it, the tell-tale glow of biotic armor covering its exoskeleton, its mouth parts dripping in a thick green fluid as its jaws vibrated with an insectoid growl.

The Collector lifted its gun, but was too slow.

Faster than the eye could see, a long tentacle shot out at great speeds and impaled the Collector through the ceramic armor and bone.

The Rachni Brood Warrior hissed as it shook off the minor pain of busting through even the weakened Ceramics and with ease, it clamped its talons around the tungsten covered spine of the Collector as it easily lifted the dying Collector up into the air.

It observed the glow of Harbingers control for but a moment before the thing spoke.

"DESTROY THIS SHELL, IT DOESN'T MATTER. YOU WILL SOON DIE."

The Brood Warrior snarled and with ease flung the dying Collector into another with a simple flick of its tentacle.

It released a reverberating roar before it took off to the next target.

All around, the Soldier Rachni had come, fighting with a swarm like fervor with corrosive saliva, tentacles, and claws.

A Rachni's main tactic was ambush, however when massed, Rachni had little equal in battle, and while the Collectors were outfitted with great armor, technology, and weapons, they could not handle both swarms of revenge-driven Rachni, and the steadily growing colony of Blacklight.

Indra clouds fell low to the ground, sparks of electricity still coming from the great many Indra, all of it directed to hit Collectors only. Many of the microscopic Indra went for the Collectors' eyes, obscuring their vision, and allowing both Rachni and Blacklight alike to get in close, where they were the most dangerous.

Giant masses of Blacklight biomatter grew under the floors from the ship as they fed on any energy that could be used to stimulate cell division. The Collectors were unaware of this.

Blacklight and the Rachni watched the Collectors carefully.

'Shall we group them together?'

'Yes, We can get rid of them soon, we just need more time.'

'Time you say... Hmm, I request access to control a portion of biomatter.'

'What are you going to do?'

'I am the eldest of us, I have some experience in war. Allow me to help.'

'Then go for it.'

'Join us in the Song of war, Thorian. It will be interesting to see what you do.'

Against the wall of Biomass holding the air lock open a large tumor like mass fell from it and landed on the ground as it began to shift through colors while simultaneously initiating cellular division on a massive scale.

Slowly but surely, the mass began to take on a humanoid shape.

'Now, what to add...Hmm... Interesting, this baobab tree has fire resistant bark. Yes, that will do nicely... What is this... Quebracho tree, the axe-breaker... yes, that will do.'

Soon, Twelve Thorian Creepers stood, each much different from anything the original Thorian ever produced.

Their skin was replaced with bark tailor-made to withstand a great deal of force. They hissed as, despite their weight, the leapt like acrobats into the battle.

One landed near a Collector, and quickly wrapped its limbs around the Collector causing its vine like arms to coil and grow roots. They grew and grew as they bored deep into the armor between its seams, and began to control the body like a puppet.

Against its will, the Collector was moved by this puppeteer around, and fought against its once allies as the other Creepers used thorned vines and wooden weaponry in an attempt to get in close and grow over another Collector.

A whole tree grew from wooded roots coming from the Biomass that was slowly getting bigger and birthing more and more Creepers. All the while, Rachni soldiers and Blacklight Evolved ran throughout the area overwhelming the Collectors.

Cross continued fighting a few groups with Heller, who was at the moment using a large blade and shield, as opposed to Cross' biological grenade launcher and electric spike that he was currently pulling from a dead collector as he fired round after round of toxic gasses and biological explosives.

Many Collectors took to the skies on their insectoid wings to get any kind of advantage, only to fall to the storms of Indra, who proved difficult to deal with due to their small size. Analyzing the situation, they attempted to adapt.

"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL!"

One of the Collectors in the air immediately grew a biotic barrier around of itself. Then without warning, a shockwave of Biotic energy detonated from the Collector that moved out and cleared the green cloud of Indra. Then something rather unexpected happened.

"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL!"

Another Collector began to glow.

"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL!"

Then another.

"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL!"

"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL!"

"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL!"

"BYPASSING SAFEGUARDS! ASSUMING MAXIMUM CONTROL!"

Again and again, they began to Glow with eldritch lights as their shells of ceramic cracked with an amber light.

The Rachni watched, attempting to fire acidic blasts at the now barrier covered Collectors.

"YOUR FLESH IS WEAK!"

Millions of voices spoke at once from the Collectors that now spoke in the voice of legion.

"YOU ARE WEAK!"

The once green clouds of crackling electricity were replaced with a miasma of crimson hued biotic energy that clouded the air, lashing out like some strange variant of the annihilation field at Blacklight Evolved and Thorian Creepers and Rachni Soldiers, leaving burn marks on their flesh if not outright incinerating them.

Then The Biomass below the floor finished growing, and unleashed the Devastator.

Hundreds of massive spikes of biomass erupted from the ground with many barbed tendrils of hardened tendons that either skewered Harbinger controlled Collectors in the case of the spikes, or pulled them towards the center mass.

Each spike and tendril was aimed beforehand to hit only Collectors, and it worked like a charm.

The room, once filled with dozens of Collector squads now resembled little more than a Blacklight Hive with Rachni crawling across the walls as Thorian Creepers grew over still living bodies to take control of the downed Collectors and implant a root into them for the Thorian to control.

'Well... That was fun.'

'Effective as well. Shall we take the ship? I could unleash spores based upon my own for rapid growth to available biomass.'

Cross stood over a dead Collector as he watched the Thorian roots bore into the thing.

"The Vorcha have got this. We'll fully infest this place, it is the only exit. With us here, they will send some Collectors here to take care of us, and every Collector they send here is one less for the Vorcha to deal with."

'Very well.'

Heller looked around before turning to Cross.

"So, looks like its thirty to twenty six,"

Cross glanced at Heller before smirking.

"You know what that means."

"UNEXPECTED!"

Cross looked down at the mangled remains of a still living Collector missing most limbs and a large portion of its body. Its glowing eyes stared unblinking at him.

"WE WILL REMEMBER THIS! IT WILL NOT WORK TWICE."

In response Cross fired a casing of explosive chemicals into the thing and finished what the Devastator started.

The door was still melting at such a rate that Shisk wondered if he would live to see the other side of it. He was a Vorcha, a species whose short life span made them very impatient. Apparently Blacklight could be just as, if not more, impatient than Shisk himself.

'JUST FUCKING PUNCH IT!'

Shisk hissed and snarled at Shepard... Who just. Would. Not. Shut. Up.

After a bit of thinking, Shisk decided that whatever shut the Shepard would be the wisest action. Sure it might cost him his hand... But stuff like that just grows back anyway so what did he have to lose?

So, Shisk got up, stood before the door as he watched the strange matter that made it up seem to melt slower than before, and just as Shepard said, just fucking punched it... It broke and crumbled like it was made of wet sand.

Shisk looked at the goo like rubble, which still was melting, before looking to his hand which was covered in the same material, and a strange slick slime that was not there before that caused the melted remains to slide off with ease.

'Finally, and it's about damn time. Let's get to work.'

Shisk, who at the moment was feeling rather strong and yet somehow very weak at the same time, took his first step through the ruins of the door and lifted his particle rifle.

He figured that it was just necessary to ignore the feeling. Hopefully there was something ahead to kill to get his mind off it.

James did a little twirl as he bowed exaggeratedly to Cross. James was wearing a pretty Pink Tutu, Ballet slippers, a tiara, and nothing else.

Cross was feeling increasingly uncomfortable from the rather disturbing level James was dancing at, even if he danced like the wind, but that was hardly the point, at least as far as Cross was concerned.

"Do I look pretty?"

Cross smacked his hand against his face.

"You know... I thought I would enjoy this a lot more than I really do."

"You just hate me because I look good no matter what I'm wearing.", said James with an effeminate snap of his fingers.

'Work it girl!', came the voice of Dana from somewhere in the Hive Mind.

Cross rubbed his eyes as he groaned.

"I really wish I lost. It would be much less disturbing."

'I hate you all.' Came the exasperated voice of Alex, who somehow sighed despite being a consciousness at the moment with no physical body… or lungs with which to sigh now that Cross thought about it.

'Really Cross… That's what is bothering you, not the two hundred and fifty pound black man in a tutu?'

"…Nope, I'm pretty sure it's the man in a tutu."

James stood on his toes as he smiled to an obviously distressed Cross. He smiled.

"See that Dana? Even when I lose, I win."

Cross groaned.

"Shouldn't we help the others?", asked Cross whose face was still in his palm.

James, without stopping his dance, looked to see several Flyers exhaling streams of fire into the few remaining Seekers as Indra Clouds released bolts of lightning. Hunters and Evolved took care of most of the Collectors before they even entered the room. Other than the dead ones James was currently dancing on, none were close enough to be a threat to the small group who found themselves with very little to do.

"I don't think we even need to be here really."

"Then why are we here?"

James began to dance Swan Lake with the skill of an expert ballerina who had trained their whole life to dance like never seen. Thus far, only Dana found it entertaining. Alex had realized the answer to Cross' question.

'Dude... I don't even know.'

Systems disconnected, Geth Proof.

Analyzing.

Within Shisk's Omni-tool, hundreds of Geth Programs scanned the Collector Ship from within. Unexpectedly, most of it was built in such a way that it almost accommodated Geth Programs, but why would that be the case, they did not know. It only makes the Geth's mission that much simpler.

Consensus was drawn, and Geth moved deeper.

The Reaper IFF wasn't found, not yet... It could be disconnected from any systems, but...

"WARNING! Heretic Geth Detected."

Shisk could only look around at this truly massive room, one covered in wiring and technology both familiar and alien.

Most of the unfamiliar technology was the same as the rest of this strange ship, but what set it apart were the hundreds, if not thousands of Geth Hubs with motionless Geth mobile platforms surrounding them and facing these hubs.

All of them stood perfectly motionless, making Shisk wonder if they were even activated or just lifeless husks to be used when needed. It was uneasy to see so many potential threats just standing there. Before Shisk could do anything, his Omni-tool activated.

"Heretic Geth have joined their systems with those of this ship."

Shisk sniffed as he clicked his teeth lightly and observed the room. Interestingly much of the floor was lit up with a green light. These lights seemed to be formed in such a way that they formed visible connections to other hubs throughout this room.

"Those lines are security connections, they should not be crossed. Doing so will activate the Geth attached to those Hubs."

Shisk took a nervous step back as his suit formed a mouth and vocal chords upon Shisk's left palm.

"Why haven't they activated yet?", asked Shepard, whose voice came from Shisk's own hand in a way that Shisk found disturbing.

"Unknown. Scanning… Scan Complete, Heretic Geth are in the process of fully integrating to this ship's systems. They are aware of the attack, but not of our entrance into this room."

Shisk thought that was good at the very least.

He looked around the room, trying to find at least one trail where the lines did not cross… However he saw none.

"Could we fly or crawl over the walls to avoid the lines altogether?", asked Shepard.

"No. Security Trails emit light upwards to sensors above. Breaking the connection triggers them."

"So, we're going to have to fight Geth either way… Well, shit."

Shisk looked around the room. At the Thousands of Geth stationed here.

"On the bright side…", said Shepard. "With this much protection, they must be guarding the Reaper IFF."

Shisk was not entirely sure how that was in any way a bright side.

Then, rather suddenly, Shisk's eyes began to shift. The world was bathed in colors Shisk did not have any name for as the room suddenly became brighter.

'Sorry Shisk, I'm going through various visions, trying to see if I can see the lights.'

Shisk said nothing as he looked at the colors that he couldn't look away from, and then slowly, he saw it, blue bars of light evenly spaced across various points of the ship with so little spacing that Shisk couldn't slip the tip of his talon through. In fact, Shisk doubted you could slip a needle through.

'Not exactly a lot of room to do anything. I think we could sneak a few microbes through without triggering the alarm. A few light sensing cells could help get through without triggering anything. Sorry Shisk, your armor is about to get a bit smaller. '

Shisk sniffed as small dust sized particles shed from his armor to flow through the bars to the other side. Thankfully, no alarms were triggered just yet.

Then his Omni-tool went off.

"Reaper IFF is located three hundred meters away. Current consensus is that should Geth awaken, Heretic Geth will disable it."

The mouth on Shisk's palm opened. Shisk felt disturbed.

"Then let's hope we can salvage it. Any chance you can flood the hubs with not conformist Geth?"

"Not enough programs available."

In his mind, Shisk heard Shepard sigh.

"I think we'll manage. I have an idea. It was to be used on Reapers proper, but I think this will work."

Unseen to Shisk, the small microbe colonies grew drastically in size as they were maneuvered throughout the room. After only a few short moments, Shisk saw it, a small fungal like mass that was growing before his eyes that crept across the machinery, yet always avoiding strange stalks grew out from the mass and sprayed barely visible spores across the room that grew and grew like wildfire. The mass became bigger and bigger, when Shisk noticed something. The mass was glowing, red hot. Like it was on fire.

Unknown to him, metabolic functions were pushed past their limits into the realm of the truly ridiculous as what few organic molecules they had were consumed and used, while bacterial adaptations were applied to the cells of these fungi as they burrowed into the wires of anything the Geth were not in any direct control of. They fed upon electricity as sulfuric acids rusted the metals to use the oxidization of inorganic iron as a food source to grow faster and faster. With this, the electricity and iron eating mold grew and grew.

These truly alien metabolic functions however, did produce heat, but that was easily taken care of. New organs no fungi could ever have fed upon this heat and converted it into usable energy in ways that defied conventional biology as the colony grew and grew at an accelerated rate, covering everything in fungi. Then, suddenly it stopped.

From within his link to Shepard, Shisk could feel just how difficult this strange sight that defied biological norms was. While Shepard was not winded or exhausted or anything physical, there was a mental fatigue that Shisk felt from Shepard.

'Okay, I think that should work.'

"Work?" questioned Shisk as his teeth clicked.

In response, the fungi changed into something else. A lard bulbous pustule, with a visible thing growing inside it began to form.

Shepard smiled as he emerged from the pustule and stood up.

Shisk… Was very confused, until a familiar voice entered his head.

'It's just an avatar, no different from any other flesh puppet Blacklight Evolved used, just… Well, it's hard to explain, but think of it as me controlling it remotely… Admittedly that's not exactly what's going on here, it's more like multitasking except that is not quite it either, but it's the best way I can describe it to you. Either way, I'm going to stay in the suit… Sort of… You know what, I don't think the words to explain what is happening actually exists… Anyway, I'm not going anywhere… Well I am but… I'm also not… Well.'

Shisk, in response, began to growl as he cupped his head in pain at his failed attempt to grasp whatever was happening right now.

"Shisk get it… Stop talk. Hurt Shisk head."

'…Sorry.'

"Sorry."

Shisk blinked, the apology came from both his suit, and the Shepard beyond the bars. Who was smiling sheepishly… And seemed to be female again, which only served to confuse Shisk far more than he already was.

"I'll be right back… Well technically I'm not going anywhere, but…"

Shisk started to growl again, this time with an obvious feral undertone.

"Right… Shutting up.", said the flesh puppet as it ran off, presumably towards the Reaper IFF or something that would kill Geth.

At this point, Shisk's head hurt far too much to care.

Meanwhile, elsewhere within this ship, another Vorcha flicked his omni-claws free of whatever fluids flowed through these collectors as he looked down at the downed slave. His teeth clicked as his omni-tool blared to life.

"This location would be the best to leave the device."

The Vorcha sniffed loudly as he reached for a bulge of biomass on the small of his back, which melted away to reveal a small hand sized silver orb. The Vorcha admired the orb as he lifted his goggles from his face to look at his own distorted reflection.

There was just something… enchanting about this orb that the Vorcha could not quite place, there were voices as well. Voices not of sound but of mind that whispered something he found pleasant into the deepest parts of his own sub-conscious. It was comforting, but as with all things, it came to an end as he placed the orb on the ground, where in defiance of gravity, it began to float upward and drastically increase in size. He took a tenuous step back as an emerald aura unlike any he had ever seen seemed to bleed from the orb that was now much larger than himself.

Its size remained there as his teeth clicked and, as if on instinct, he stood just a bit taller.

He knew not what this curious orb was.

He only knew that he liked it, but he resisted the light pulling of his attention as he walked off, unaware of exactly what this was. He assumed it was a weapon, but now he thought it was so much more.

The Vorcha left the Leviathans' sphere alone to do its work, as throughout portions of this ship minds long dead began to awaken.