Take Garrus along 94%
Fluttershy, Garrus, and Kasumi were all sitting in the shuttle that was bringing them to the mansion on Berkenstein, the planet where the gathering of criminals would take place. Kasumi had initially been reluctant to let Garrus in on the plan, but conceded after Fluttershy made it clear that she wouldn’t come if he wasn’t allowed as well.
As a last-minute measure, Kasumi had gotten Garus a suit he could wear to make him look like a bodyguard, but ultimately the plan itself hadn’t changed. Fluttershy would still be used as a gift to get them into the party, something the pegasus was becoming increasingly anxious about.
“Are you ready, Fluttershy?” Kasumi asked. The Japanese woman had foregone her usual outfit and put on a black dress with high heels while allowing her long black hair to fall over her shoulders.
“Not really, but I don’t think we should be turning back now,” Fluttershy admitted, unlike the others she wasn’t wearing anything—not even her biotic amp as that was too visible.
“Don’t worry. Once you’re inside you can deactivate the stasis field and start snooping around,” Kasumi said as she pointed at the stasis field generator that doubled as a storage for the group’s armor and heavy weapons.
“Anything you need me to do, Miss Gunn?” Garrus asked, about as comfortable with the plan as Fluttershy was.
“Try not to start a fight with any of the criminals there. We’re trying to avoid attention, not be the center of it,” Kasumi said as she activated the stasis field generator. A blue bubble of energy appeared above the device, not unlike the one Liara had been stuck in on Therum.
With a sigh Fluttershy jumped into the bubble and immediately felt herself being frozen in place, only able to make small movements and look around with her eyes.
“The bubble also stops sound from getting out, but you won’t be able to speak, so we’ll keep in communication via radio.” Fluttershy tried replying, but the stasis field indeed stopped her from making anything but mumbling sounds. “I’ve also changed a few settings on your omni-tool that allow you to use it without the holographic interface.”
Fluttershy tried opening her omni-tool. Although she felt it activate, the hologram did not appear around her foreleg but gave feedback as she tried blindly navigating the menus on memory alone. It took her a couple of seconds before found the messaging application and started typing a short reply to Kasumi.
‘Understood.’
“Good. We’ll be arriving at Hock’s mansion in two minutes, so get ready Cailus,” Garrus huffed as he heard his cover name but made no further comment. He knew the value of staying in character from his undercover work with C-Sec.
After the two minutes were up, the shuttle came to a stop at the mansion, the door opening and revealing another human, a male, waiting for them at the stairs that lead up to the main entrance.
“Miss Gunn, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Donovan Hock said, giving Kasumi an appreciative nod, a gesture the Japanese lady reciprocated.
“The pleasure’s all mine, Mister Hock. I’ve heard many good things about your operations and hope to be opening business with you soon,” Kasumi replied diplomatically, getting an appreciative smirk from the crime boss.
“I’m sure we’ll be able to come to an agreement on that, but now I’m interested in the ‘item of value’ you have procured for me.” Kasumi gave a signal to Garrus to pull out the stasis generator that held Fluttershy. “I will admit I’ve been eminently curious ever since your message came through,” he continued. Hock’s eyes went wide as he took note of the pegasus who felt old anxieties returning to her. “Now that’s a worthy gift, Miss Gunn. I shall have it moved right away.”
Unseen by Hock, Garrus tensed up and flared his mandibles slightly the moment the crime boss referred to Fluttershy as an it, indicating that he was not happy with the way the human spoke about his mate.
“Now who is this?” Hock asked as he looked at Garrus, who had swiftly schooled his expression and returned to being stoic once more.
“This is my bodyguard, Cailus. He insisted that leaving without a guard would be inadvisable. Is that going to be a problem?” Hock checked Garrus out for a moment for any cracks in his decorum but found none as the turian used his military discipline to stay in character.
“Of course not. People like us can’t take too few precautions to stay safe. He can go upstairs to where the other bodyguards are staying while you are here. My security will make sure you’re safe within my walls,” Hock said, satisfied by the level of professionalism shown by Garrus. “Enjoy the party, Miss Gunn.”
With that, Hock returned inside while his guards handled the stasis field generator that was holding Fluttershy, bringing her inside the mansion. As she was rolled through the main lobby, all the guests she passed stopped talking, pointed at her, and continued their conversations in a hushed manner. If the pegasus was capable of shivering within the stasis field, she would have done so.
The short journey ended at the balcony on the other side of the mansion where the guards put her down and left. A cold layer of sweat formed on the pegasus’ coat as she realized that she was essentially put on display for the rest of the gathering, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
“We have a problem, ma’am. Our assets have been misplaced,” Garrus said, and Fluttershy could see him looking down at her from the first floor.
“A small hitch in the plan. We’ll figure something out to get back on track,” Kasumi replied. They had hoped that she’d either be placed near the vault entrance or in Hock’s private quarters. Being put on display was their worst-case scenario. “I found the vault. It’s a very nice one if I do say so myself. It’s password-protected, has a kinetic barrier, a DNA scanner—looks like an EX-700 series. Everything a vault needs to be impenetrable.”
Fluttershy, in an attempt to stave off her encroaching panic, typed a message.
‘Problem?’
“Please, I could break this while asleep. We need to figure out the password for the vault. I’ve already picked up his voiceprint outside, so we won’t have to talk to him again. We can get the DNA from Hock’s private quarters and to get the barrier down we simply have to cut the power,” Kasumi explained while more and more guests came by the stasis field to study Hock’s new ‘prize’.
Fluttershy nervously swallowed as tears that had formed in her eyes rolled down her face. She felt completely vulnerable – which she wasn’t wrong about in any way – without her biotic amp or any of her armor she was getting used to wearing. The guests around her all had different reactions to her distress. Some seemed to pity the pegasus while others laughed at her misery. To make matters even worse, this was the exact time her bladder decided to pester her about having to go to the bathroom. Fluttershy quickly wrote another message to the others before she would lose even more control of herself.
‘Want out, too much attention.’
Garrus was the first to react to Shy’s message of distress. “We’ll make work of that, Shy. Miss Gunn, do you have any options?”
“I’ve got an idea of how to pull it off. I can short out the power of the stasis generator when one of the guests comes too close to make it look like they screwed with it. That’ll force Hock to put you somewhere more secure. Just make sure that you don’t talk when you’re released, and maybe make a few cute hor-”
“Do not finish that sentence… Miss Gunn,” Garrus growled, getting very territorial all of a sudden.
“...As I said, just don’t talk to anyone. When you’re out of sight of the party you can break free. The downside is that we’ll probably lose the gear that’s stashed in the generator.” Kasumi finished, not tempting her luck with Garus any further.
“So we either lose that, or she’s going to have to stick it out?” Garrus asked, severely annoyed that those were the options they had. “What do you say, Shy, do you have another option?”
Can I stick this one out? The guests are going to get bored with me at some point, right?
Fluttershy had trouble trying to decide what to do as she felt her bladder trying to empty itself again. The plan that suddenly formed in her head made her feel disgusted with herself but might actually end in them keeping their gear.
Though there’s no saying what Hock will do if I wet myself, he’ll probably be really angry.
1. Stick it out.
2. Have Kasumi disable the generator.
3. Wet the stasis bubble.
Well, as as disgusting as it is, wetting herself is by far the best option.
1) It lets them keep their gear, something quite useful for the inevitable heavy defenses Hock will roll after the thief is detected.
2) In cements in everyone minds that Shy is an animal, and as such she will be heavily underestimated.
3) Shy endurance is no way in hell good enough to stick it out. She is one of a kind, the curiosity of the party goers will last much longer that her will under such social pressure.
9743875
But it's so embarrassing!
So you think it's going to happen anyway, so she might as well get it over with? Oh lordy. I voted for option 1, but this is going to be interesting. I can see any of these going wrong.
I've been digging in Ian's memories, and apparently his tribute was something from a previous universe he visited. Let's just say, a tyranid in stasis makes for a very good hiding place for equipment. Specifically a Lictor. Without a connection to the Warp, the Lictor had no abilitys.
Although Lictor blood and cranial juices do not mix well with Esoieja (A substance like a metal rubber. Pronounced Eh-Soy-Edge-Uh. It is extremely durable.) changer handles. And no, I will not explain what changer handles are right now.
Anyway, the tribute could always be worse, Shy.
9743972
Are you talking about 40k? Yes or no answer only please. Just curious.
9743984
He's talking about Tyranids
foul xenos, so yes, it's 40k.9743972
I'm just not sure what the reference is
9743984
Umm...
I know you said yes or no only, but there are multiple answers to that. Do you still want to just hear just yes or no? Or do you want an explanation (hopefully short) of why it is yes and no?
9744019
A quick explanation would be nice
9744004
Okay, since I am not under a yes-no only contract with you, I will explain. (Mainly because I need to or I will go crazy. Although that is said out of character)
As far as the Lictor goes, yes I was referring to 40k. You were right on that.
As for everything else, we'll it gets a bit more complicated...
Ian could probably be explained as the spacial counterpart to a time traveler. And by spacial, I specifically mean inter-universal jumps. Put simply, he travels the multiverse. His own universe is dead. Deader than dead. The fabric of space-time itself in his universe was ripped apart at the seams. But not before he built a device to allow him and whoever chooses to come with him to travel the multiverse. He escaped, alongside his sister, Aedra, and an energy being named Polaris centered on him, with a link to his mind.
Other than the device, he also brought with him a custom, heavily augmented plasma rifle, two changer handles, and his clothes. Changer handles are essentially offensive situation multi-tools. Heavily customizable, as they utilize nano-arrangers to create user-defined items. Specifically weapons and shields. Both of Ian's changer handles have the same look, and the same options. In carry mode, what they are in when not in use, they look like stereotypical pistol grips, with the two finger indents on one side, the other side being flat. Except the other side has five buttons on it. The top one is for carry mode. The next one down is for gun mode, in which they transform into a plasma gun, that has a long line shaped exit port (barrel. The plasma bolts look like vertical lines.) And the exit port is connected to the handle by a part connecting the tops and bottoms of the exit port and handle. There is more detail I will not go into here.
The next button down is the shield mode, the next is seord mode. Even Ian himself dosen't know what the fifth button does. He was, well, out of it, when he programmed the fifth button.
Anyway, moving on from equipment. Ian, Aedra, and Polaris became the original three Guardians. The full title is Guardian of all Worlds, but Guardian is shorter. They traveled the multiverse together, trying to make lives better. After all, what else would they do with their immortality?
I may have forgotten to mention a few things. Mainly, Ian and Aedra, and Fenix as well, are all offspring of a human-energy being pairing. And by pairing, I mean the energy being manipulated the quarks, gluons, and electrons he was made up of to create all the biological neccesitys for fertilization, without any of the potentially dangerous contact with other sentients. He did this so there was somewhere to stuff himself into. Three places actually, because the mother had three. Ian got the most stuffing, hence Polaris. Aedra was second most, and so she got the emotional part, which allowed her to, well, influence, others. As well as feeling their emotions. Fenix got the least stuffing, and he got the intellectual and defective portion. It shut down the emotional portion of his brain completely and only enhanced his intelligence by double. A side effect of being stuffed with energy being is immortality. At a certain point their bodies just stop aging.
Anyway, Aedra sacrificed herself to give Ian a chance of getting out of the second universe to ever die like his home universe, and the final one so far. They found Fenix, and then Polaris went feral and promptly drained so much neural energy out of him that there wasn't enough energy left in his brain to tell his heart to beat or his lungs to work. Then they found me, Polaris made me immortal and I became the first non-Zairon Guardian. Not counting Polaris himself. And now, the Guardians consist of me (outside Equestria, I go by Perceiver), Ian (In Equestria he goes by Dimension Shift), and Polaris.
What does all of this have to do with 40k? Well, Ian visited that universe between the time that Fenix died, and the time Ian found me. It was one of if not the most exciting and most dangerous and most bloody adventure he has ever been on. He assimilated trillions of innocents of all races in order to gain enough power to kill Khorne. He fought alongside every race except the Tyranids, Dark Eldar, Necrons, and Orks. He earned the respect of the Aeldari of the Craftworlds, he became the first ever and only Shas'O human (well, semi-human) in the Tau military, he became known as a hero even among the Space Marines. That last one came first. And then, he talked (alongside some, ahem, persuasion) the leaders of the Imperium, the Tau, and the Eldar Craftworlds into becoming allies at least until every other threat was dealt with. He then shattered the Dark Eldar (Commoragh was no more. Ian himself made sure of that with the aid of Polaris) and almost completely exterminated every dynasty of Necrons in existence. He made a deal with Tzeentch to leave any peace that exists intact. He made a deal with Nurgle to only deal in diseases, not warfare. He made a deal with Slaanesh (I can never remember how to spell his name) to only deal in non-violent pleasures in exchange for access to another universe as well, while still remaining under those terms in both universes. And then, once the fighting had all dried up and there was relative galactic peace, aside from the tyranids, he got bored and left. But he brought a tyranid lictor with it's brains mostly incinerated with him as a trophy.
I hope this explains everything you were wondering about, and then some. Sorry for the length. I kind of got carried away.
9744061
So it's an AU OC thing?
I think I get the gist of it but it might be a good idea to leave it at this to avoid cluttering up the comment section
9744074
Kind of, and ok.
9743875
I'll put a mark on the scoreboard for "Times Peeing On Things Solved The Problem", but don't expect me to be happy about it.
There's already too many from JoJo and various D&D groups.
Im going to have to go with Journey To The Centre Of The Earth:The Cartoon for this.
Think like a Jellyfish sting Fluttershy, think of all those pernicious danglers outside the field as something you can rinse away.
The Garrus can go Box Turtle on them.
9743907
Well, not really. Even if I was certain that Shy was able to keep it up (I am not), the peeing plan is still the best one. It has the biggest potential profit while also having the lowest risk. On plan 1 the risk is that Shy goes into a full blown panic attack and becomes a liability, on plan 2 the risks are bringing suspicion on both herself and Kasumi (if she speaks by mistake or if the cage is investigated).
On plan 3 there isn't really any big risk, as even if Hock gets furious, he wont risk harming such an invaluable specimen.
Im actually surprised he wouldnt want her moving around for display. Shes very exotic. Set up a heavy weight with a clip attachment then get 4 guys with those noose sticks and a chain and another with a tranq/stun gun. She could move around even fly a few feet. Some guests might even wanna pet her. Yah i could imagine others making offers for foals if he decides to try to breed her with a regular horse and they have wings.... i could imagine garrus killing everyone in like 5 seconds.
...Are we ever going to cover what's happening back in Equestria? Because the story's description is all about Twilight trying to break down the "artifact", in order to get Fluttershy back - leading me to think there'd be some occasional switching of perspectives, y'know?
Nr3, they have to clean up his prize...
9743875
1. Agreed, after all she is a living breathing being. They eat, drink and release cargo...
3. It's one once in a lifetime thing. Fluttershy there for will be at everyones attention from start to end...
9743907
Sentient or sapient, everything needs to come out eventually...
9744131
Absolutly priceless... It's not like a Toothbrush could save a Ship or a Geth could be a amazing ally to have or the most redicules thing ever... PONIES IN SPACE!
9744728
Perfect reasoning!
9744730
5 seconds? Unlikely make it 15, reloading/cooldown.
10339593
Good point
Nr.3 Fluttershy is literally a living price, water & food must come in and eventually get out again.