Rite of Passage part 1

The group split up and Vincent followed the Krogan with his group towards where the shaman was which seemed to be a nice place two buildings to the right of the gathering hall.

They arrived there and the Krogan informed the Shaman to prepare Grunt and the group for the Rite of Passage as Vincent sat down when Zaeed sat down beside him.

"So you fought many wars if I am correct," says Zaeed as Vincent nods.

"That is right, I also lost many men in those wars," says Vincent as Fenris places his head on Vincent's thighs wanted to be petted.

Vincent pets the Mabari as they waited for the Shaman to be done preparing Grunt for this ritual when Zaeed asks, "What are the odds of us surviving this suicide mission?"

"For me, it is a hundred percent that I will survive it. For everyone else, it is around twenty percent with me as the mercenary involved. Without my involvement, it would be under one percent," says Vincent as Zaeed and Garrus looked at him.

"So our odds aren't that low," says Zaeed since he had worse ones before.

"What if the Emperor would show itself like on the Virmire and the Citadel?" asks Garrus seriously as Vincent turned serious as well.

"The odds would rise to fifty percent," says Vincent seriously as he looked towards Grunt and the Shaman before continuing, "And this all only counts if the Taken King doesn't interfere with our mission. If he ever interferes in our battle against the Collectors we are all done for since the odds would go down to under one percent."

"He interfered before but we won," says Garrus as Vincent shakes his head.

"It was his son, not the Taken King that I defeated before. The Taken King is a menace as big as the Reapers. We are still lucky that he thinks that the Reapers are the ones behind the disappearance of his most precious Dreadnaught and the death of his son. But his son should soon be revived and this farce will be revealed," says Vincent worried as he sighs because it was a pain in the ass to deal with the Taken King and the Reapers at the same time.

"So we are theoretically facing two enemies instead of one which are also fighting each other," says Zaeed as Vincent nods.

"Yes, we are trying to weaken the Reapers by taking out the Collectors but the Divines know for how long that will delay the Reapers while the Taken King is already wreaking havoc in our Galaxy," says Vincent as Grunt and the Shaman walks towards them.

"The preparations are done. Now Grunt and his Krantts will be brought outside the city to the proving ground where you will survive three waves of beasts that will be summoned by the keystone that you need to activate to begin every wave.

Once you survived the three waves you will be a warrior of the Urdnot Clan and will be injected with the cure against the Genophage. You will also obtain an apartment that you can call your own," says the Shaman as they have gone a long way since they entered the Empire.

"Then let us get this behind us," says Vincent stopping petting Fenris who removes his head from Vincent's thighs before Vincent stood up like the others did when the Krogan that brought them to the Shaman's house guided them away towards a vehicle that drove them out of the city.

They arrived at an isolated place that seemed run down. They were left there when the Krogan only wishes them luck. The group split up since it was quite a small place as they identified where they could fight and how to maneuver when flanked by the beasts.

Fenris found a half-eaten Krogan corpse and barked telling them that he found something when Vincent looked at the corpse.

"This Krogan was burned before it got eaten by the beasts we are going to summon to this place," says Vincent as he looked at the marks all over the Krogan.

"Those are claw marks," says Vincent pointing at them before he points at some other marks and says, "But those aren't they look more like marks left by a big peck of a bird or something similar."

"The claw marks were left most likely by a pack of wild Varrens but the second I don't know," says Zaeed since he worked with Varrens before.

"Definitely some beasts that live only on Tuchanka," says Garrus as he also could identify the Varren marks.

"I think that the second marks and burn were made by some Klixens. They resemble Rachni but aren't related to each other," says Grunt as all three turned surprised at Grunt.

"We didn't know that you also had a brain under all those muscles since you would normally charge in and kill the enemy before asking questions," says Zaeed since he and Jack are responsible for the Tank Baby when he goes full berserk on the fourth deck.

Grunt gives a laugh from himself as Vincent stands up and says, "We should go into position and try to guard each other's back."

Vincent looked at the highest position and points at it and says, "Garrus, I want you up there with your sniper covering us."

Then he looked around and sees a position just under the position of Garrus which should be easy for them to defend and says, "We will hold the position just under you making sure that nothing can threaten your position."

They begin to move as Vincent waited for everyone to be in position when he activated the Keystone and the earth began to shake because of the mechanism until a loud sound is heard and Vincent rushes towards the group.

He jumped behind cover while pulling his two Caliburns out of their holsters when Zaeed says, "I should have known that this was too easy to be true."

"What do you mean?" asks Vincent as Zaeed pointed behind him when Vincent looks in the direction Zaeed pointed at, seeing Varrens coming in their direction as well as some creatures that looked like Rachni but weren't.

"It seems that they outnumber us at least five to one counting Fenris as one of us," says Garrus who had everything in his sight when he started to shoot at the incoming enemy.

"Alright, those odds are in our favor," says Vincent as he whistles in a different tone which made Fenris rush at the enemy while summoning a layer of ice over his armor.

Fenris rushed without feat into the enemy as ice spikes grew all over the ice on his armor. Zaeed began to shoot his salves of bullets on the enemy while Grunt waited until they were nearer so he wouldn't waste half of the spray from his shotgun.

Vincent was shooting precisely as they were about to finish the first wave they felt the ground shake for a bit again which made all of them be on edge when Grunt says, "That wasn't the Keystone."

"It wasn't," says Vincent as the shaking from the Keystone was different than the one they just felt.

Garrus killed a Klixen and it exploded killing the Varrens around it making Vincent smile as he says, "We should make sure to kill those Klixens first since they can kill the surrounding enemy."

They begin to take out the Klixens first which exploded taking some of the Varrens with them to the grave while Fenris was on his solo mission with his fangs on the throat of the enemy.

Soon the enemy stopped purring to their position Vincent turns to Grunt who was getting some history lessons from the Shaman which just annoyed him since he is a walking talking library about Krogan history.

"Why do I have to listen to things that I learned while I was inside my tank?" asks Grunt into the group as the group laughed at him.

"What you are going through is just going to school while being on the battlefield. Just bear with it and let us get this behind us," says Vincent as Fenris returned covered in blood.

Vincent petted him before going towards the Keystone when he asks, "Everyone ready for the next wave?"

"Bring it," says Grunt as he finished reloading his shotgun as Zaeed nods while Garrus just gives Vincent a thumb up.

Vincent activates the Keystone again and another small quake happened which was stronger than the one it produced before.

Vincent rushed back to where the others were when Garrus says, "Not good."

"What do you see?" asks Vincent as Garrus couldn't believe the numbers he was seeing.

"There is a new beast that joined the Varrens and Klixens, and they can fly," says Garrus as Grunt gave a growl from himself.

"Those must be Harvesters. They normally hunt with Klixens it was surprising that they didn't attack with the Klixens before," says Grunt as a Harvester was flying towards Garrus.

It was bigger than Vincent though when he put his guns back in their holsters and put his hands out as if holding a spear making it appear in his hand before his armor changed to that of a Dragoon.

"Change of plans, I take care of those Harvesters while you take care of the other ones. Garrus, you continue covering for the others while a take care of those coming your way," says Vincent as he jumps with his spear pointing at the enemy as he goes through the Harvester covering his armor and weapon in its blood and intestines.

Once in the air, he saw what Garrus saw and says to himself, "Shit, we have a lot of work to do."