Who doesn't love giant robots?
The Hunters of Death
is an Alternate Universe Mass Effect/Pacific Rim Fusion Fic written by Desert Chocolate. It takes place after the end of the Pacific Rim movie, with Jaegers, Drifting, and Kaiju continuing to play a huge role in Earth's history and military prowess. So when the First Contact War comes along, the civilizations of the galaxy meet an Earth with some very powerful back-up...
Though the story starts out much the same as the original games, it very quickly goes in a completely different direction. One very obvious change is the fact that there are two Shepards, male and female. One raised in space, the other in the ghettos of China. The differences that are caused by their different backgrounds are one of the things explored in-story.
The story also has a lot of characters in it, some who were mentioned, but didn't appear in game, other who show up far earlier than usual.
Also has a Spacebattles thread.
(Since writing this story, he has also written Through a Temple, Adorable Murderbeasts, and Saiyan in Brockton.)
Currently, the fic is abandoned, with Desert Chocolate working on a rewrite called Hunters of Death: Prey, which fuses the Godzilla franchise in as well. Spacebattles thread here.
"Hunters Of Death contains examples of:"
- All Your Powers Combined: Neptune Overlord has both a sentinel shield and a vanguard charge ability, due to Jane and John being those classes. When Ashley joins them, he also exhibits the adrenaline rush possibly showing his abilities change based on who is piloting him.
- Alternate Universe: By the time the story takes place, humanity has been using Jaegers and Drifting for decades, other races have started creating Jaegers of their own, and Kaiju still attack Earth. Ashley Williams is also a N7 soldier with a family known for winning the battle of Shanxi, Garrus' father is a councilor, Liara and Mordin have been studying the Kaiju on Ilium...
- Audible Sharpness: When John and Jane obtain Avalon units, basically a hilt that create an omni-blade of any size and shape, John starts playing with it, creating a 'shing' sound every time he turns it on.
- Badass Boast: While fighting two Geth Jaegers in Neptune Overlord in chapter three.John: It's not one on two!Jane: Its two on two!
- Badass Crew: The entirety of the Shepards' team. Each one gets a chance to shine in battle.
- Badass Family: The Shepards. John and Jane prove to be quite the badasses in their own right. Not seen with Hannah Shepard yet, but being the Captain of her own ship makes it a near-given. Garrus and his dad also show shades of this.
- Badass Normal: Ashley Williams, with no biotics or tech abilities, has no trouble keeping up with her crewmates. Zaeed Massani is similar, taking down guards with ease with nothing more than an assault rifle and grenades.
- Bash Brothers: Jane and John show shades of this when they fight alongside each other, which is par for the course with Jaeger pilots.
- Beware the Nice Ones: John, the kinder of the twins, is also the The Butcher Of Torfan . Also, Tali, once again showing herself as the sweet Quarian capable of blowing a man's head off.
- Blood Knight: Jane is definitely this, often times eager to get into a fight. And if any proof is needed that Wrex is this, his reaction to seeing a Kaiju slam into the Citadel.Wrex: Yes.Garrus: Yes! What do you mean yes!?
- Broken Pedestal: Jane shows signs of seeing John as one after finding out why he's called 'The Butcher of Tonfan'.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: In chapter 15 you see this with Wrex as he interacts with 6 child orphans.
- Carry a Big Stick: One of the geth Jaegers has a huge mace as a melee weapon. Doesn't prevent it from being taken out, of course.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Jane's childhood is never truly spoken of. All we really know is that she was raised in Hong Kong's ghettos, and that she killed a Krogan in a arena fight as a child.
- Deadpan Snarker:John Shepard: "... You know, I'm starting to realize I have a team made up of smartasses."
- Department of Redundancy Department: They decide to name the "big cat kaiju after the scientific name for cats."
- Everyone Has Standards: In chapter 14 Jane says that she may be the one who does crazy things in their family, but even she finds John's plan crazy.
- Fastball Special: The Shepard Twins use this by having the biotic members of their team launch the twins with mass effect towards a rampaging Kaiju at high velocity with omni-blades out.
- Fix Fic: Shows some shades of this. Nihlus and Jenkins survive, Athlion instead of Sparatus on the council, Ashley's family is no longer hated...
- Flat "What":
- This is Tali's reaction when she is asked to help name the mini-kaiju that crashed into the citadel.
- Also Wrex's reaction when Joker is told to shoot the flying kaiju while the krogan is leaning against the Normandy's main gun.
- Genius Bruiser: Jane Shepard, who not only loves fighting, but spends a lot of time hacking people for fun.
- Gilligan Cut: Kaiden asks John if Ashley was going to feel any side effects from Drifting with both of the Shepards while under the effect of the Beacon. John tells him she'll be fine. Cuts to Ashley wondering why she has to stop herself from saying "I should go."
- Godzilla Threshold: Played with when Anderson decides to send Neptune Overlord down to John and Jane. It's enough to make the Council call them in. The Jaegers themselves are also noted as being this, with one person comparing them to nuclear bombs. (Not an unfair comparison)
- Groin Attack: Garrus does this to Saleon in chapter 14.“He’ll make a good soprano.”
- Humongous Mecha: All over the place. It is a Pacific Rim Crossover after all. Notable mentions are Neptune Overlord, the Geth Jaegers, and the Asari Jaegers. Presumubly most Council races have some sort of Jaeger.
- Lampshade Hanging: Happens several times. One example includes Tali commenting on the puzzle game being the security system for the citadel.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
- Jane tells Tali she cannot wait until the second game to become a romance option.
- Jondam comments that the trio of Spectres match the "Fighter, Mage, Thief" pattern well.
- More Dakka: Invoked twice in chapter 14 with the Normandy firing upon the Kaiju known as Baolo-Molo. The author himself said that it may have been a bit overboard.note
- Mundane Utility: The Drift technology. You know, that masterpiece of humanity, made to control enormous Mecha for fighting huge monsters from another dimension? Humanity's edge over all the alien races? The twins are using it for multiplayer games. They also use it to share memories.
- Mythology Gag:
- John and Jane double-tapping Geth Jaegers at the end of a fight. They even call it the Becket-Mori special.
- Jane threatens someone who's using airquotes sarcastically.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: The near-disastrous First Drifting of Mako Mori is why drifting is now tested out not connected to giant robots.
- Playful Hacker: Jane has a habit of hacking into peoples omni-tools for nothing other than curiosity. Becomes a Chekov's Skill when she hacks Councilor Tevos' Omni-tool to get the crew permission to dock on Ilium.
- Public Domain Artifact: Played straight with the weapon company names being Excalibur and its sheathe Avalon.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: It's Mass Effect. What do you expect? Even John thinks of them as a "group of random badasses."
- Rule of Cool: Why can Neptune Overlord fit inside of the Normandy, then pop out at random to do battle? The author came up with several reasons, but admitted in the end that he just thinks its awesome.
- Rocket Punch: Invoked when Ashley uses a human sized version to slam her fist into a Krogan's skull hard enough to immediately knock him out. Which is a real thing in the Mass Effect games- it's an omnitool you can equip in Multiplayer mode of Mass Effect 3 called the "Enforcement Gauntlet."
- Separated at Birth: Jane was presumed killed in a Kaiju attack, which is why she's Earthborn while John has the Spacer background.
- Shout-Out: More than a few, but one memorable one where the team is trying to decide what to name a Kaiju. Wrex apparently doesn't think pumas are real animals. Also, Jondum Bau is apparently a fan of Batman.
- Wrex beats up a turian merc in a manner identical to how the Hulk beat up Loki, complete with him saying "Puny Turian."
- In John's memory of Torfan, two of the soldiers are Grif and Simmons.
- Superpower Lottery: Neptune Overlord in spades. Not only does the Jaeger have standard robot strength, but he can also create plasma swords, create a sentinel shield and even do a vanguard charge. Apparently his powers depend on the class of those piloting him, meaning he may be capable of everything a Normandy crew member within him can do.
- Tempting Fate:
- On Illium, one of the Asari dockworkers states that she wouldn't let them dock even if they had Councelor Tevos on speed dial. Jane, who hacked Tevos' omnitool earlier, does have Tevos on speed dial. Hilarity Ensues.
- In Mordin and Liara's lab, after being attacked by a miniature Kaiju (and killing it in seconds), Wrex deliberately invokes this by claiming that it was "Too easy." Cue many other monsters.
