I’ll do it.65%
Fluttershy was flying over the masses of aliens that were strolling over the walkways below her. The salarian, who had introduced himself as Vortash, was concealed within the crowd, walking along towards their targets, a group of Blue Sun gang members that were moving large backpacks filled with what was supposedly a hefty amount of drugs.
Vortash, when presented with the raid plans, immediately went to work creating incendiary explosive devices and presented an alteration to the plan Fluttershy had relayed to him. Instead of grabbing the bags of drugs and disposing of them out of an airlock, they would plant the devices inside the bags and detonate them immediately, destroying the drugs on the spot instead of having to drag the large amount of drugs with them.
“Five tangos approaching the killzone,” Garrus reported, his voice slightly distorted to not give away his voiceprint to the Salarian. He was located over two hundred meters away from the street Fluttershy was flying over with his sniper rifle calibrated on the exact spot they would make their move.
“I see them,” Fluttershy replied as she slowly circled above, her heart beating furiously as adrenaline coursed through her body. “I’m dropping on the first one at your mark.”
“Understood. Vortash take the second and then plant the bombs. I’ll make sure the other three won’t bother you,” Garrus told them as the five criminals were almost below her. “Mark!”
Fluttershy immediately dove and activated the omni-blades lining her wings, pointing them straight down at the leading criminal. Time slowed down for her as she rapidly approached the human that was completely unaware of what was about to happen. Right before she’d hit the criminal Fluttershy closed her eyes, not wanting to see the result of what her actions would be.
The report of a gunshot entered Fluttershy’s ears at the same time as she felt the two blades sink into the victim below her. A warm sticky substance spouted out from beneath the armor, covering her wings as they followed the blade into the wound and splattering onto her cloak slightly.
Around them the regular civilians were falling into a bit of a panic and rushing away from the scene, some diving behind the closest cover available to them, all trying to avoid getting caught up in a firefight between two gangs. Only that firefight never happened as another two successive shots followed the first, downing the other two criminals who had yet to recover from seeing the three other gang members get killed in front of them.
Fluttershy pulled back her wings and opened her eyes again, the two appendages covered in blood that was spilling from the man below. She was sure that if she looked at them now they wouldn’t even be colored yellow anymore but dripping the red fluid.
“Malak al-Mawt… Malak al-Mawt…” the human below her hooves coughed in a language that wasn’t pre-loaded into Fluttershy’s omni-tool, but that didn’t matter as she could clearly understand what was being said. Her stomach churned as she looked down despite not wanting to, only to be met by the two glazy eyes of the deceased human.
“Shit, I can see more Blue Sun thugs making their way to your position. Plant those bombs and get out of there!” several more gunshots could be heard along with the whistle of the bullets as they flew overhead. “And don’t fly Flutters, your cloak is faulty. They’ll be able to spot you immediately if you head up.”
“U-understood” Fluttershy stammered as she looked over at Vortash who had already put all the incendiary devices into the bags containing the drugs.
“Am ready to move. Lead the way,” Vortash said as he held a detonator in his hand, ready to make a run for it.
“R-right, let’s go,” Fluttershy stammered as she started making a run for it in the other direction. Bullets impacted on the rear of her shield as she ran, nearly completely draining it as most of the armor’s power was being routed into the stealth systems. Not that Fluttershy noticed as she was too preoccupied with processing the things she’d just heard and seen.
Why am I doing this again? Against Saren I could justify the killing, but here…?
In response to the fire from Blue Suns, Vortash pushed the detonator’s trigger. The fireball from the explosives was massive, reaching high into the air and radiating intense heat. A few screams and curses from gang members on the other side of the fireball could be heard, followed by a new stream of bullets fired through the blazing fire…
…one of which impacted the back of Fluttershy’s shield and punched through.
Letting out a shriek of both pain and surprise, the pegasus felt a searing hot metal pellet impact her ear and rip a piece out of it. The lapse in concentration made her trip to the ground and roll to a stop.
Vortash didn’t hesitate a moment and scooped up the shimmering form of the pegasus, carrying her to a shuttle that Garrus had ‘requisitioned’ from a gang called ‘Eclipse’ a few days prior and taking off immediately. A slight trickle of blood flowed from Fluttershy’s ear down her head, but the pegasus completely ignored it as she’d withdrawn herself into her own world.
Malak al-Mawt… Malak al-Mawt…
The words kept repeating themselves in her head, making her sick. Their meaning being revealed only by Shy’s ability to understand any creature’s speech.
Angel of death.
Looking at herself gave her a good impression of why the human might have called her that in his final moments. Her blood-red stained wings along with the flickering stealth system made her look like a vaguely transparent creature of darkness… It made her sick to her very core.
Was that what she’d become? Did she want to continue with this?
Why is everything so wrong on this station?
1. I can’t do this. I’m out.
2. Maybe I can help in other ways.
3. I should talk about it with Garrus