Her shoulder slammed into the cold stone, her body naturally coiling like a deadly snake, crouching protectively. Overhead there were streaks of red and blue - biotics and gunshots. Commander Shepard took the opportunity to activate her armor with a quick press of a button on her chest. The semi-transparent orange shield appeared in plates over her much more physical and solid N7 armor. She reloaded her submachine gun, mostly out of habit. Her clip still had plenty of shots left. Then, without hesitation, she straightened her body, popping out of cover, and began firing.
The hiss of shields and barriers falling off of the Cerberus troops she fired was intensely satisfying, but it wasn't long before her own armor began taking the brunt of enemy fire. "Shields down!" She screamed as she crouched behind the rock again. "Garrus, cover me!"
The turian's voice appeared in her headset. She could hear his smirk. "Already on it, boss." A bloodcurdling scream and Liara's triumphant "Headshot!" both confirmed a kill. Despite her time spent shooting cans on the Citadel, in which she ruthlessly took no survivors, it seemed he was still a very confident sniper. Good.
A small blip informed the Spectre that her armor was back online. She reactivated it. "Liara, Singularity." The asari responded immediately, hurling a blue ball towards the Cerberus operatives. They began to fly, lifted but he power of the biotic. Grinning underneath her visor, Shepard pushed herself away from her precious boulder, exposing herself in the open. Taking only a moment to aim, she tossed her own biotic into the mix. The result was catastrophic for Cerberus. Their molecular structure disintegrated instantly. The rest of the troops began a tactical retreat. Shepard took a few half-hearted shots but let them escape. Garrus, on the other hand, nailed a few more headshots.
"They are backing off." Liara appeared beside her, blue eyes scanning the now empty battlefield. "But why?"
"Cowards." Garrus reloaded his sniper, a massive long gun that emitted a large clip with a couple of clicks.
"Commander Shepfbjrgiarojskgj…" The Spectre rose a hand to her ear, wincing. Her two squad mates looked at her quizzically, not receiving the message in their own earbuds. "Cerbsgbaiuw is setting aug agorulaksjgopwgawrha agjosg, you should-"
The message let out one final loud crackle, and then fizzled out and died. "EDI? Joker? Normandy, come in!" Shepard clenched her teeth in frustration. "Dammit! Okay, move out. We still need that data. Garrus, as soon as we find a console I want you to try and hack it to see if we can reestablish communications."
The turian nodded. "Of course."
"On me!" With her usual bravado, the leader rushed forwards, the two aliens following closely behind. Despite the field being empty she still took opportunities to remain in cover. They passed through a couple of hallways, turned around a corner, only to be faced by a large, and very locked door, judging by the red lights hovering in front of the entry pad. Shepard once again turned to her tech expert. "Garrus?"
"Right."
He pressed a button on the side of the door, revealing a keyboard and monitor. The screen denied him access in a calm, feminine voice, but the group seemed unbothered and simply waited for the door to open. They assumed it would open. Perhaps, given time, it would have. But it didn't.
A shot rang out through the empty hall, it's energy leaving a sizzling hole in the door next to Garrus' head. He cursed. "Shepard, we've got hostiles! Cover me!"
The two women of the party immediately looked around to find cover, only to find there was none. They had run down a simple corridor, with shiny floors and a couple of windows revealing the stormy weather of the planet outside, a dusty red mass. Shepard cursed as well. "Keep this hallway hot. We can do this!"
The human glanced at Liara. Her brows were pressed down, contorting her expression into one of determination… and desperation. But they had dealt with Reapers, Collectors, and Geth. Surely this was not the worst thing they had faced? Shepard's gaze returned to the enemy. A goddamn engineer was in the middle of setting up a turret. That would destroy them. Round after round fired, but each was absorbed by the engineers shield, one by one.
The turret rose, spun, took aim, and fired.
Something took over her. It felt familiar, like a guiding hand. This was the same thing that had allowed her to be the sole survivor of Akuze when Thresher Maws attacked. In the back of her head she heard a scream. Time seemed to slow. Her shots penetrated their shields, killing the engineer in an instant. The rest of the clip was unloaded into the turret, but the machine felt none of the damage it sustained. Her left hand, the one supporting the gun, dropped to her chest and pressed a button. Her shields instantly dropped, the energy they once held being instantly expelled outwards, causing devastation to synthetics, and destroying the turret. Liara wiped up the mess left behind.
Ping.
Commander Shepard turned around. The door slowly slid open. But more importantly, Garrus was slumped over the console. He let himself fall onto the ground in a seated position, leaning against the wall. A shot - no, many shots - had ripped through his shields and armor, and dark blue blood was everywhere. They had been focusing on him. Shepard felt her vocal cords strain as she screamed his name and rushed to his side.
"Dammit Garrus, I need you for the fight against the Reapers. I need you to help us find the Catalyst." A pain in the back of her throat made her next words difficult. Tears slid down her cheeks. "Dammit, Garrus, I need you!"
The turian smiled, as much as his anatomy allowed. It was very different from a human smile but she had learned to recognize his foreign mannerisms. "You think this is going to stop me?" He tried to struggle to his feet but it became obvious he wasn't going anywhere. "Okay, maybe I need some medi-gel."
"Medi-gel? I think this is a little more serious than that." Liara's solemn voice came from behind Shepard's shoulder. "What should we do, Shepard?"
Continuing on the mission would put Garrus' life at risk. He was bleeding everywhere. Abandoning it would sacrifice vital intel that Cerberus possessed. She had been placed between a krogan and a cliff.
Suddenly, a familiar voice was in her ear. "Shepard? Commander Shepard?"
"EDI."
Shepard glanced at Vakarian. He waved his hand nonchalantly. "Oh, yeah. I opened the door and also got us connected to the Normandy, while under fire and bleeding all over the place... Just my endless natural ability, I suppose."
"Commander Shepard," EDI continued, "Cerberus troops have set up a localized and fortified perimeter around your location. It would be unwise to continue the mission."
Shepard glanced at the damned turret, now mangled and broken. "We figured that out the hard way. Garrus is down."
"I'm not down!" Garrus protested, to which he received only a glare.
"Joker, how close can you get the Normady? Is there a landing zone nearby?"
"Yes, but-" Joker's voice was interrupted by the synthetic tones of EDI. "As I said before, Commander, there is a fortified ring surrounding your current location. With one team member down it would be very difficult to perform an extraction."
"How far?"
"Twenty meters northwest of your current location."
Shepard took Garrus' three-fingered hand in her own and hauled him upright. He swayed a little bit, dizzy. Liara appraised the two of them, her face remaining solemn.
Shepard hauled the easily double her weight turian onto her shoulders in a fireman's lift. Garrus grunted in surprise, but in his state couldn't struggle free. That didn't stop him from voicing his concerns. "Shepard, what the hell are you doing?"
"I'm getting you out of here."