Here's a new chapter for you.
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Helen made her way home after a day of school. She walked with Athina a young Asari; she was roughly the Asari equivalent of 15 and Helen's new best friend. They were similar in the way that they had both recently arrived on the Citadel form their respective homeworlds, although Helen left out the fact that her Earth was 171 years ago and in an alternate universe.
It had been a normal day as far as Helen was concerned, even if her ideas of normality had drastically changed over the last two months. Still sometimes she finds herself amazed by everyday items in this new world of theirs.
"So do you want to come in?" Helen asked as she reached the large doors to her apartment block's lobby.
Athina's answer was glum at best; "No, sorry, my Mother wants me home tonight. I've got to meet her new girlfriend,"
"Girlfriend!" Helen exclaimed before suddenly remembering an important fact about the Asari, "Oh… wait, mono-gendered sorry," said, mildly embarrassed.
"It's ok, I was surprised too." Athina chuckled. "I find it weird that you humans have two genders. My father was a male Salarian, my sister's a Turian, also male and now she's dating another Turian, this time a woman! At least it's better than a Krogan." They both shared a laugh at the joke and received a frowning glare form a passing krogan.
"Well then, good luck and I guess I'll see you tomorrow," Helen said.
"Yeah, see ya," Athina replied as she turned and continued walking down the Citadel street and disappeared down a flight of stairs.
Helen entered the lobby and walked towards the lift in the far wall. The sounds of a Citadel news broadcast gently guided over the air form the desk where something odd caught her attention. Lamtenor, the Turian doorman was missing from his usual seat. She couldn't remember a time when the elderly Turian hadn't been there; in fact she often thought that he slept at this desk. Helen shrugged and thought nothing of it as she approached the lift.
The biometric scanners recognized her and opened the doors.
She froze.
She stared into the deep cybernetic eyes of the large man standing in the lift.
He rose as Z shaped object in his right hand. Helen didn't have time to react.
There was the sound of an electronic blast and a reverberating ping as a blue bolt of light shot towards her.
The man remained emotionless as agony stabbed into her chest and sliced though her body.
She gasped in crippling pain as the world went dark and she collapsed into set of iron rod like arms behind her.
Then there was nothing.
"Frost, it's Wolf, we've got the girl."
It was nearing the end of another day on the Citadel. George and Eleanor were in the back of Wilkinson's Electronics sorting and storing the newly delivered stock. The Volus who delivered them as always was less than helpful as he dumped the creates in an alleyway just outside the rear of the store and leaving George and Eleanor to pick up the boxes of Omni-tools, Omni-gel converters and pretty much everything else that could have the prefix omni before sorting them, labelling them, registering them and finally placing them one the shelves.
Meanwhile out the front Henry was watching over his store when two men entered. One was a large man with arms like tree trunks, blond hair and cybernetic blue eyes. There was something about him that put Henry on edge. The other was smaller yet sly looking, he had black hair and cybernetic hazel eyes.
Henry cleared his thought and asked; "Can I help you two?"
"Yes," The first man said in a deep southern German accent. "Does a George Williams work here? We're… old friends of his."
Henry didn't trust these two, his gut told him so, he always trusted his guts. "No," he said, "He's not here now, I'm sorry."
"Well then, can you tell us where he may be?" The first man said, pronouncing his Ws as Vs. Henry was well aware of the other man moving along the side of the counter, his cybernetic eyes drifted form the items around but his attention was firmly fixed on Henry.
"No, I'm sorry I don't." Henry answered.
Out back however George and Eleanor had finished shifting the new stock.
"I'm Glad that's over with," Eleanor said with a sigh of relief. George however was nearing the door to the front of the store when his ears picked up the conversation (which also surprised him since there was a large metal wall and door in the way). 'Why would there be anyone looking for me?' He thought.
"So George, I was wondering… Well if you wanted to do something after work, you know, like-"
"Shush!" George hissed as he raised a hand to stop Eleanor and before she could question he whispered, "Listen."
"We know he's here, please get him." The first man said, his voice was far from polite.
George peeked around the corner of the door into the store. He let his Eagle Vision take over and sure enough the man Henry was talking to glowed a bright red, he ducked back quickly.
"Your father's in danger." He whispered.
"What?" Eleanor hissed back in shock.
"Mr Wilkinson, this is your last chance give us George Williams or we'll have to get him ourselves." The first man said darkly.
"Was that a threat?" Henry asked.
George froze. He didn't know what to do. Those two men in there were dangerous and hostile for sure. He wasn't going out there no matter how much he wanted answers to who they were. But he couldn't let Henry or Eleanor come to harm.
"Yes." The first man replied. There was the sound of weapons unfolding and Henry let out an oomph as the sound of a hard object hitting flesh filed George and Eleanor's ears. Eleanor gasped as the first man called out, "I know you're back their Mr Williams! Come out now and we will let this man live! You have until the count of five. Five."
George was frozen; In Eleanor shock had begun to turn to panic. "What do we do? You've got to stop them! I'll not lose him too, nor you!" She rapidly said.
"Three."
George closed his eyes, took a deep breath and though 'I hope I know what I'm doing' before turning out into the store. "I'm here. What do you want?" He said as he faced down the large man who held a somewhat familiar Z shaped weapon. Another man held the same weapon and pointed it at Henry who lay on the floor with a bleeding wound on his head.
"Dad!" Eleanor cried as she saw the sight. She wanted to rush forwards to him but George held her back behind.
"Ah there you are." Frost said his voice was cold and rang with malevolence as he lowered his Z-shaped weapon to George and Eleanor. George froze, his mind said run yet his legs were still frozen in fear. In the deepest corners of his mind new instincts took over as he quickly formulated a plan to escape. That plan never happed though what did happen next was one of the fastest things he ever saw.
Henry seeing the weapon now pointed at George and more importantly his daughter suddenly leapt from the floor and slammed up Frost's weapon. It fired an electrical blast into the ceiling as Henry proceeded to punch Frost and turned to the two, "RUN!" he cried. The fight wasn't long though. Frost smashed down Henry's arm with snapped. Cobra took this opportunity to fire three shots of his Zat into Henry.
Henry didn't have time to scream as he disappeared in a cloud smoke and ash, not even his shoes remained.
"NOOO!" A suddenly enraged and distraught Eleanor screamed.
George was shocked beyond belief. His mind didn't even have time to register the situation as he turned and ran, grabbing Eleanor by her arm and throwing themselves into the back of the store as electronic blasts skimmed passed.
"C'mon! We've got to go!" George cried as he pulled Eleanor towards the back door.
"NO! MY DAD!" She screamed with tearful eyes as she staged, torn between running away and wanting to fight. George kept a firm grip on her arm as he continued to pull her away.
"If you stay you die!" George screamed as he dived though the store's loading bay into the narrow alleyway, "That would be the last thing he would have wanted!"
George ran down the alleyway, his had still firmly grasped Eleanor's arm as Frost and Cobra exited behind them and continued to fire.
The two ducked behind a parked truck as the electronic blasts whizzed closely by. George's mind was in a state of adrenalin endued overdrive as he scanned the alley for an escape. Frost and Cobra were closing in, above was a small, unreachable walkway and the top of the alley opened onto a busy traffic lane, at the far end was a door the streets but there was no cover between them and their, their only hope of escape was on door in a small wall cavity nearby that led into another shop, he just hoped it wasn't locked.
"Follow me!" George said as he leapt up and dived into the cavity. The door opened and George fell through with Eleanor and a couple near misses from the Ghost's weapons closely following.
"Call C-Sec!" George said to a startled Salarian as he and Eleanor ran through and into the store's front, hopping over the counter by an alarmed Asari and out onto a busy Citadel street.
"Which way!" Eleanor whimpered between gasps of breathless emotional agony.
George didn't think he just ran with Eleanor further into the crowds. They kept running, not caring where they went just so long as they lost whoever those two where. They run up a few levels and along different streets. George's lungs were burning for oxygen as the ducked into a secluded side street yet Eleanor was the first to stop.
"Wait! George… I…" She began to say as she rested her hands on her knees and panted for air, the pants soon began to turn to chocks and sobs as it dawned on her what had just transpired. "No... No, NO! Oh God no!" She screamed between weeping gasps.
Eleanor crumpled to her knees as overwhelming grief and heart stopping anguish flowed through her as if her blood had turned to cold poison. "Dad… No… Please no…" She wept as her body contorted into a tight, shivering ball.
Realization too began to sink into George. An onslaught of new questions flooded into his mind. Who were they? Why were they looking for him? Why did they want to kill him? And why were those weapons they held seem so familiar? He was sure they didn't exist at all in Mass Effect.
All those questions could wait however. The images of Henry's death speeded before him again. One second he was there, then a flash, and then he wasn't. Henry, a man he knew, someone who less than an hour ago he had been talking to, the father of the only person whom he saw as his closest friend since being taken here. Now she was in a state of pure unbridled grief and misery that he had never seen before outside of films or games, even if this was once a game.
He didn't know what to do. He had to comfort her in some way, his mind raced to think of what to do, he remembered Tali's loyalty mission and that gave him an idea, he just hoped it would work.
George kneeled down to Eleanor's side and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Hey, listen… I… I don't know what to say but I'm here Eleanor," George said in a soft voice. Eleanor responded by wrapping her arms around George and continuing to weep into his neck, George was startled by her chocking grasp but gingerly he eased his arms around her in return.
"Why?" Eleanor said between gasps, her voice was no more than a pained whisper, "Why him?... Mum, Shawn, Cass… now Dad! It's not fair…"
"Life isn't fair Eleanor, trust me, I know," George replied even if he knew that coming into a different universe was nothing like what she is going through, "But I mean what I said, I'm here… I'll be here as long as you want."
"They wanted you…" She said eventually said as her grip around him loosened, "Why? Why?" She screamed as suddenly she pushed George away and looked up at him through anger filled tearstained eyes. "Why did they want you? Why did you lead them to us?"
Her words ripped into George as a torrent of guilt filled him, the same questions burst into his mind again. "Eleanor… I… Please believe me I don't know who they were or why they wanted me. I never wanted to see you or your dad hurt… I don't know, please... I just… I don't know."
Eleanor didn't answer she circled back into a ball, she stopped weeping yet fresh tears still formed in her eyes. George's eyes two began to water as a new question flowed into his mind, 'Did she really blame me for this?'
"Is everything okay here?" A new voice said, George looked up to see two turian C-Sec officers approaching them. The one who spoke stepped into the light, he had simple blue face markings that covered only from behind and under his eyes and the bridge of his nose, an equally blue visor sat over his left eye, there was only one turian he remembered with those characteristics...
"I'm Officer Vakarian, are you two okay?"
George was stunned silent.
Frost and Cobra burst out of the store and onto the street. They looked left and right for their target yet he had disappeared into the crowds of aliens and humans.
"They couldn't have got far!" Cobra said as he looked around.
"Wolf, what's your status?" Frost said into his radio.
"We're almost back at the ship, the girl's still asleep." Wolf's gruff voice replayed.
"Lock her up and get back here to help us. This kid's fast. Frost Out."
Cobra bent down to the ground and with a mental command his cybernetic eyes switched his vision. All around him the world was scanned highlighting every hidden detail, "Why does the citadel have to be so clean, I can barely make out these footprints," He muttered as he attempted to make out the freshest pairs of the dimly yellow highlighted footprints.
"It wouldn't work, not with this many people," Frost grimly said, "They couldn't have got far. Its times like this I wish these boys in the lab created a working AI, one of those would be able to track them in this."
"I say we go left." Cobra said. Frost nearly nodded as the two set off down the street. The crowds parted before them as the searched round for any sing of their target, "Say you remember four years ago when that super-solder came through the transporter with that AI?" Cobra asked.
"Yeah, why do you ask?" Frost answered as he indicated for them to move up a set of stairs.
"If we had that one of those AIs on our side then everything will be easier, not just tracking."
"She… It went insane after we killed the big green guy it was plugged into."
"I know but I was talking to one of the eggheads who tried working on her, and even they call it a her, and well he said that…"
"This isn't the time Cobra, keep your eyes open." Frost grumbled. He hadn't failed a mission yet and he wasn't about to fail to catch a kind half his age, the fact that the mission was half complete meant nothing to him.
"Frost, its Wolf, come in,"
"Wolf, this better be good news." Frost snarled as the stepped out on another even more crowded street.
"We've locked the girl up safe and sound and on the way to your position now. Over."
"Roger that Wolf," Frost said. He looked around again, they lost them and they had to rethink their strategy.
Helen's mind slowly came aware of itself again. Its disordered pieces dragged themselves back together and probed her most recent memories. She remembered walking home and them a large man standing in a lift and them a flash and immense pain, the pain still stung in her chest. She hissed as she noticed the silence around her. It wasn't a soothing silence it was the kind of silence that hung around when a predator was about to strike. It felt like she was lying on a cold metal floor, almost as cold and as smooth as ice.
She slowly let her eyes drift open. The first thing she saw was her left arm still clad in her purple jacket. At least she was in one piece she thought. She lifted her head and as far as her eyes could see was nothing but whiteness. Helen blinked, the whiteness did not go on for infinity instead it was a pure white wall perfectly joined with the floor without any sign of a seam.
She rolled over onto her back and immediately squinted at the white light that relentlessly poured down form the celling. Slowly Helen sat up and again looked around at all sides. Every wall was as white as the floor and ceiling and each was joined to the others without a seam. There wasn't even any sign of a door.
Panic began to sink in. She breathed rapidly as she skimmed her hands over the wall looking for anything the felt like a door. Suddenly she stopped breathing as a thought occurred to her, if there was no door than how much air did she have? It didn't help to calm her it only made her panic worsen.
Her hands continued patting along the walls in desperation. She felt nothing put smooth cold strange metal. 'Where's the door?' Her panicked mind cried, 'There's got to be one! How did I get in here? Where am I?' Suddenly her hand brushed over a spot in the wall that lit up from beneath. There was a hissing shrouds as a white thin rectangular outline appeared on the wall and with a swoosh that part of the wall slid out revelling what looked very much like a bed.
"You won't be needing that," a voice said startling Helen, she turned around to see a holographic screen on the opposite wall. Their she saw a man with sandy blond hair sitting behind a desk, he wore a grey uniform under a white lab coat, "The journey back to our base will only be just over an hour or two, it depends on how long your brother can hide,"
"Who are you? Where am I?" Helen screamed.
"I'm Doctor Alexis Muller of the Dimensional Commanded and Temporal Research Division of the Protection Squadron from the Greater German Realm of my planet Earth, Universe AAA-0001/A-1943. You are now my prisoner and I do hope that you or your brother can help us understand a small problem we've had."
"Where's George? What have you done with him?" Helen cried. Fear, dread and anger coursed thought her as she stared into the cold holographic eyes of this man.
"From what I've been told your brother has escaped, but don't worry we'll find him. Now if you don't mind I'd like to start the interview, please take a seat on that bed and we shall begin."
George's eye twitched as he stared up at the previously fictional character, well he knew that he relay existed here, he'd seen him on the news, but there was thee Garrus Vakarian standing in front of him.
"Well if we're interrupting we'll just be off…" Garrus said as he was about to turn away.
"Wait!" George called out, "We need help. There are these two people chasing us, they want to kill us or something, they've already… already…" George didn't want to say the words as he looked towards Eleanor who still sat, hugging her legs to her chest.
"Murdered my father..." She said with a whispered sob.
George found himself moving towards her again only for Eleanor to turn her head away from him. George stopped and slowly moved back as guilt seeped into him, Eleanor's father was dead all because of him. Why? He didn't even know who they were or why anyone would want him dead and they were willing to kill Eleanor and Henry to get to him… "Helen!"
"I'm sorry, what?" A confused Garrus asked.
"Helen, my sister, if they came after us then what's to stop them going after here?" George said in panic as he stumbled to his feet.
"He's right; we've got to see if she's okay!" Eleanor suddenly agreed as she too stood wiping the tears from her eyes, still she refused to look at George.
"Well if you're sure, do you know where she is?" Garrus asked.
"Yeah, she should be home or with her friends," George said as he brought up his Omni-tool and attempted to contact Helen, "She's not responding," George said, his voice full of worry.
"Where do you live?" The other officer asked.
"5 Canno heights, Level 35, Syeas Tower." George said.
"Millius, call the station and get them to send someone over," Garrus said to the other officer, "Sir, ma'am, I think it would be best if you come with us back to the station."
"No, my sister…"
"Sir I'm sorry but I relay think it's best if you come with us, we need to take a statement, you claim to be in danger and you say that someone was mur…" Garrus didn't say the words as another sob escaped Eleanor.
"If we must, but please you've got to find her," George finally said, he knew it was useless to protest.
"Look, just relax, C-Sec isn't all that bad, we'll find her." Garrus said reassuringly. George knew that he could trust him; he just hoped he was right.
Three hours! For three hours George had been pacing back and forth the C-Sec Academy's waiting room. After interviews, and statements he'd still received no word on Helen and still she wouldn't answer her Omni-tool. Eleanor had it worse; she too had to make a statement and went through a short counselling session, now she sat in the waiting room staring blankly into her now cold cup of coffee.
"How long does it take?" George exclaimed in anxious frustration as he continued pacing.
"Don't worry George..." Eleanor said in a week voice, it was the first thing she said to him since she yelled at him in the alley, "I'm sure she's okay."
"I hope so Eleanor. God I hope so," George said as he continued pacing.
"You'll wear a hole in the floor soon." Eleanor said with a small smirk that rapidly faded followed by a sigh.
George stopped and also sighed. He stood there with is eyes closed trying to control the anxiety and fear for his sister that grasped on to every fibre of his being. He sighed again and sat down next to Eleanor holding his head in his hands.
"This is all my fault. I don't know how but it just is. They were after me and I put you all in danger and now… I never wanted this, I… I just wanted to protect her and find a way home." George said with a quiver of dismay, the hints of tears formed in his eyes.
"I don't blame you," Eleanor said with a gulp of sadness, "I believe you don't know them, but why, why did they want you?"
"I don't know, I don't know."
"Mr Williams, Miss Wilkinson," The calm voice of Garrus said as he approached with a data pad in his hand, "I have some good news and… some bad-"
"What's the bad news?" George suddenly demanded as he shot up from his seat.
Garrus recomposed himself before saying solemnly, "I'm sorry George, but your sister has been… kidnaped-"
"KIDNAPED! This is the Citadel! How could this have happed?" George said as he began pacing again.
"The good news…" Garrus said as, George was showing no signs of listening and Eleanor was just as worried. He repeated again louder, "The good news is that we've found their ship, officers are moving in now and we'll get her back for you, just calm down."
"Calm down! You haven't seen what they've done!" George said.
"I have seen the security footage form your store and your apartment's reception. Yes their weapons are like nothing we've ever seen before but that won't stop us from doing our job. Their ship is in lockdown with C-Sec ships blocking its hanger. We'll get your sister back." Garrus said in a reassuring voice. George could tell from his voice that Garrus hoped that his words would turn out true.
"I want to be there," George said.
"I'll come too." Eleanor added as she stood. Her expiration of grief had turned to one of tranquil anger, the kind of face someone would have when they care not what would happen so long as those who they wanted dead would die, probably horribly and with a lot of screaming. George couldn't tell whether he should be fearful of that expiration or fear for her wellbeing.
"Well if you're sure. I can get a patrol car and we'll be their within the hour." Garrus said as he turned and walked down the academy. George and Eleanor soon followed in silence.
"You don't have to do this," George eventually said as they sat in the back of a C-Sec Patrol Car cruising though the vacuum of space.
"I'm not doing it for you, I just one to see those bastards get caught… or die. Also to see that Helen makes it out okay." Eleanor said, her voice was full with spite and pure saddened anger, George was shocked in her change of tone normally she was so cheerful and happy. Yes she had just lost her father and sure he expected her to be full of grief and anger but the malevolence in her voice scared him more than when they were being chased, and he had never heard her sewer before!
"I hope she does," George agreed. He remained silent before sighing again, "Eleanor, listen, I… I'm sorry about what happened… But I honestly have no idea who…"
"Just forget it." Eleanor said emotionlessly as she stared though cold, misty, emotionless eyes out at the pasting Citadel lights.
George could only nod slowly as he too turned to his window and slightly prayed for help.
The plump and balding Terra Firma representative opened the door to his small apartment. Inside was dark with only the seep of deep cool light though the windows. He switched on the lights as he placed his brief case on the kitchen counter and turned to the fridge with a relived sigh.
He reached his arm out but froze before he grasped the handle. Something didn't feel right, something moved in the corner of his eye…
A large arm slammed into his neck and pinned him against the wall. He gasped for air as his eyes met a pair of cold and calculating blue cybernetic ones.
"We need your help Samuel." Frost said as he removed his arm form the short man's neck allowing him to cough and gasp for air.
"Captain Frost-"
"Hauptsturmführer, not Captain, It means Chief Assault Leader," Frost corrected with a snarling frown.
"Right, sorry Hauptsturmführer. What can I do to help?" Samuel weekly said, failing hide the quiver in his voice.
"Our ship is in lockdown. We have orders to leave but we cannot if we're still clamped to the station," Frost explained, Samuel looked over to his living area where the rest of Ghost squad sat.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but why can't you just blast… out…" Samuel stopped speaking as Frost glared down at him.
"We can't raise the ship's shield while in dock and the armour is still the same as the civilian ship. If we were to try well just tear the ship apart."
"Makes sense,"
"As much as I hate saying this we need your help, I know you have contacts who can release the lockdown."
"If you don't mind be asking but why can't you just unlock the ship-Eck!" Samuel once again found himself pinned to the wall with Frost's large hand wrapped around his neck.
"We have to be on the ship so we can leave immediately." Frost said as he released Samuel.
"Okay, okay, but what's in it for me?" Samuel asked.
"If you don't help I'll break your legs."
"Point taken,"
Frost crouched in the shadows behind some shipping creates. The dock where their ship lay was up ahead behind a large amount of C-Sec officers and SWAT teams. Frost didn't think of how hopelessly outmatched C-Sec was as he drew his ScMP-80 from the folds of his cloths and pulled out the collapsible stock before attaching a holographic sight. He blinked and his cybernetic eyes turned into a head-up display allowing him to see his shield levels and a targeting reticule for his weapon. He looked over his shoulder to see Fox and Wolf having done the same.
Frost turned back to look at the C-Sec officers who stood at the cordon around the dock. "Cobra, it's Frost, how's the diversion coming?" He said into his radio as he clicked off his weapon's safety.
"Everything's ready over here." A clocked Cobra whispered back though his radio. He had infiltrated the C-Sec cordon and planted several explosives around the area in order to create a diversion.
"Good, okay we go on my mark," Frost said, he heard the clicks of Fox and Wolf's safety's being disengaged behind him as well as the whirls of their weapon's rail gun systems powering up, "Mark."
Cobra clicked the detonator. Instantly many C-Sec officers, SWAT and shipping crates burst into fireballs as five explosions rocked the area. Frost hopped out of cover and brought his weapon to bear on the disorientated and shock officers. He and the others took aim and before the C-Sec officers at the cordon realized what was happening near light-speed shots of plasma burst thought them as if they were paper.
Inside the dock the remaining C-Sec officers and SWAT turned their weapons towards Frost and his men only to be hit from behind as Cobra decoked and provided suppressive fire. Their shields were less than useless against the Ghost's weapons, they might as well been wearing nothing.
Frost and his team advanced up the dock. They swept their weapons leaf, right, up and down and fired at any C-Sec officer they saw with near pinpoint accuracy. The moved onto the gangplank over the bodies of human, asari, turian and salarian officers and continued to move towards the ships airlock.
A Turian SWAT captain peeked out off cover and fired his Avenger assault rifle. Frost flinched and dived into cover as the rounds disintegrated into the shield around him. It didn't occur to him that his shields took next to no damage as he peeked out and fired back. The Turian's head turned into a blue mist as his corpse collapsed.
The Ghosts filed onto the ship as Frost ran into the cockpit. The two clone pilots were already powering up the systems as Frost hit his radio; "Samuel we're on bored, release us now!"
In his office Samuel panicked as he replied with a yes and turned to his console and continued to hack into C-Sec's systems. "Releasing ship now… I am getting played for this aren't I?"
Frost didn't answer as the clamps that held the ship in dock disengaged. The ship raised its shields and pulled out of the Citadel. The Officers on the C-Sec ship behind were demanding orders when the invisible light of lasers burned though the ship and detonated its mass effect core. The Ghost's ship silently banked around as it shimmered and disappeared from both sight and sensors, taking Helen with it.
