Shepard was calm. Then again, she'd done this before; it was startlingly similar. The collars, the trackers, oh those were different, but in N6 training they'd been in her clothes, voluntarily kept. It was tension, a drawn elastic, a rush of adrenaline and, suddenly, she grinned. The Armax countdown hadn't shit on the real thing, costume armor or not.
25, 24, 23...
Because of coursecostume armor. Now they were just making fun of her.
19, 18, 17...
The tube rose, and the sun struck her full in the face— of course it was a pink, sugar-coated nightmare. What the hell did she expect, wilderness? Idiot. Nothing could ever be simple, around here. And there they were, all the others, arranged on their little platforms at lesser or greater distance, all blinking, all peering around. A few had already recovered and were picking their targets among the glittering bounty.
11, 10, 9...
Shepard caught Thane's eye, and gave him a sharp nod. Here we go.
3, 2, 1...
It felt good to run, no treadmill, braced for impact with the first solid body to come in contact. Someone screamed and Shepard saw the spurt of blood, an arterial spray; the world came into focus and the practiced gunman's hunch came over her like an old friend coming home. And god help you if you get in her way.
Shepard (open)
Because of course costume armor. Now they were just making fun of her.
The tube rose, and the sun struck her full in the face— of course it was a pink, sugar-coated nightmare. What the hell did she expect, wilderness? Idiot. Nothing could ever be simple, around here. And there they were, all the others, arranged on their little platforms at lesser or greater distance, all blinking, all peering around. A few had already recovered and were picking their targets among the glittering bounty.
Shepard caught Thane's eye, and gave him a sharp nod. Here we go.
It felt good to run, no treadmill, braced for impact with the first solid body to come in contact. Someone screamed and Shepard saw the spurt of blood, an arterial spray; the world came into focus and the practiced gunman's hunch came over her like an old friend coming home. And god help you if you get in her way.