Interlude 2: The Eyes of Strangers Pt 2
Noralvi followed Liara to the tunnel where Tali'Zorah had made the ultimate sacrifice. Noralvi felt sad for the brave girl who had sacrificed herself to stop the Hive from breaking into the bunker but most of her attention was taken up watching T'Soni. There didn't seem to be any grief in her demeanor or even any worry. Noralvi's first thought was that T'soni was in denial but there were darker interpretations supplied by the part of her mind that couldn't help but think of the semi-crazed look that made its home in T'Soni's eyes.
"Dr. T'Soni" she said, "I don't really know much about the relationship between you and Ms…"
"Tali's fine," she said, "I need to check the tunnel. There had to be a
reason that they attacked there and not anywhere else."
Noralvi stared at T'Soni's back as they arrived at the large hall that led out into the tunnel network. Workers and soldiers were scattered throughout the room and the air echoed with whispers and chatter. A group of quarians were arguing with an asari engineer.
"Why did you leave her out there?" The asari yelled, "She…"
"We did what we had to do," A large quarian male said, "Those monsters would have slaughtered us all if they'd gotten inside. Tali'Zorah knew the risk."
A quarian woman beside him nodded, "She did her duty. She will be resting with the ancestors now."
The engineer glared at them before her eyes drifted in the direction Liara and Noralvi had come. She blanched and saluted.
"Huntress Lorev. Dr. T'Soni. Ve'Rasa Artiz reporting."
"Situation?" Noralvi asked.
"The Hive attacked while we were in the middle of refits," Artiz said. "Zorah said she'd hold them off while we finished." She glared at the quarians, "Then these cowards shut the door before she got back."
"Vuf'Xeram nar Rodarum," the quarian said, "and Tali'Zorah told us to close the door behind her," he glared at Artiz "showing great wisdom that we heeded."
"I-"
"I would suggest the two of you shut your mouths before we tie you two together and force you to make nice." Everyone turned their heads and were shocked to see Liara's floating drone glaring at them. "Unless," it continued, "that is your objective. I've always found asari mating practices to be a bit confusing."
"What?"
"Well I ne…"
"Well," the drone said, "nothing to be done then. Grab the rope. Tie them front to front. Quicker they get this done the better."
"Ssshhhh…" T'Soni said. She had stepped forward to the door and placed her hand on it. Her eyes were closed. After a moment she opened them and knocked on the door in a
rhythmic pattern that Noralvi didn't recognize. She felt her heart jump when there were two loud clangs on the other side. T'Soni responded with another set of knocks, similar to the first, which were answered by three knocks. This continued on for another set before Liara jumped back slightly, held her hands above her head, and shouted, "YOU DO!" at the top of her lungs. She turned her head to the workers.
"It's her. Open the door."
"That's impossible," Xeram said. "No one could have…"
T'Soni glared at him, "
It's her. Open the door."
Xeram nodded and soon the door was screeching open. Tali ran inside.
"Get everybody out of the room and close the next set of doors behind you." She said.
Noralvi balked, "What are you…"
She trailed off as she saw what looked like a mix of shadow and ink flow across the floor into the center of the room.
Tali screamed, "Run now!"
The workers began to do so with the exception of Noralvi, who had grabbed her side arm, and Artiz who had leapt behind at turret. Liara slammed the button that began to closing sequence to the door and resulting noise sounded like something akin to a death knell. To Noralvi's horror. The shadows began to congeal into a large shape that began to float above the ground. The shape refined itself until it became a large Hive creature donned in heavy sickly-grey robes marked with various black symbols and patterns. It floated above the ground and its claws were covered in gauntlets that glowed a dark-purple.
"Thizna," T'Soni said with a snarl, "Princess of Witches. Youngest daughter of Savathun."
The only answer the creature gave was a guttural shrieking laugh.
***
The scene was supposed to be a bit longer but I decided to save the villainous monologue for next time. Anyway, that's the last main story update for two months. I'll probably have the first omake done by next week and I'll start working on my new project (and yes
@Parselmaster I will drop a link). I'll also drop a link when I post the second draft on AO3 and fanfiction.net. I'll also probably be seaching for a beta in the meantime so look out for that. See you guys later.