Shepard ducked as a hail of bullets thudded into the remains of the wall she was using as cover. Concrete dust drifted down over her head as she waited for a break in the firing. That pause was all she needed to duck out of cover and fire at the mercs holed up in the abandoned store front. With short, quick bursts of fire she took down one of them before pulling back to reload. With years of practice she ejected the spent thermal clip and inserted a new one in a smooth almost unconscious movement. More bullets slammed into the concrete or flew past her head as the attackers shifted their positions.
Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a sniper begin to take up position on the second floor of a building on their right flank.
"Miranda, we've got a sniper at three o'clock." She called over the gunfire.
"Got him!" No more than twelve feet from her, Miranda straightened, biotics swirling around her. With one swift motion she pulled the sniper from his perch and slammed him into the ground where he remained, unmoving.
Sensing an opportunity now that the mercs were off balance Shepard sprinted forwards, vaulting over debris before sliding back into cover behind the side of an abandoned shuttle. With brisk gestures she signalled for Grunt to charge the left flank.
His war cry bellowed through the air as he charged them, unloading his shotgun into anyone that got in his way. To the right Miranda flung the attackers away using her powerful biotics as a shield. With the defence crumbling, Shepard advanced, taking them out with precise bursts from her assault rifle, shifting seamlessly from one target to the next as they fell before her. Within minutes it was over and the ruined square fell silent again.
"Everyone alright?"
Grunt slammed his fists together and he laughed. "What did I tell you? They were no match for us!"
"We were still outnumbered." Miranda retorted.
He boomed out a laugh again. "That's what made it so much fun. Damn if it isn't good to be cracking heads with you again Shepard. You always pick the best fights."
Behind her, Shepard could hear Miranda muttering something about the damned Krogan but decided it was probably safer for all involved if she ignored it. Lifting her hand to her ear she activated her communicator.
"Jack, what's your status?"
"We're fine, managed to chase those bastards back to whatever hole they crawled out of. Rodriguez even managed to keep her barriers up this time." In the background Shepard could hear the woman in question hurling a "Screw you ma'am." back at her teacher.
"You guys are doing great. We just cleared the plaza so we're on our way to you now."
"Alright but watch out Shepard, they're still out there."
"Copy that."
Picking their way slowly through the rubble, the team stayed alert for any signs of movement. The city was a ghost town, the inhabitants either evacuated or killed by Reaper forces. Huge areas had been reduced to nothing but rubble and the charred remains of abandoned possessions littered the empty streets. Now that the Reapers were destroyed new mercenary bands had decided to take advantage of the chaos and political instability and had seized large areas for themselves including Vancouver. Once London had been secured the Alliance had focussed its attention on retaking the city and Alliance Command. At Hackett's insistence Shepard had taken charge of the offensive and after a week-long hit and run battle in the suburbs, the various teams were now converging on the harbour.
Shepard knew that as soon as they broke the merc's control over the city they would try to move into the BC interior and that would make them harder to track down and put the refugee camps there at risk. Hopefully the Krogan and Alliance forces deployed to Vancouver's northern suburbs would be enough to stop that from happening.
The closer they got to the harbour the fewer undamaged structures were still standing. Once proud buildings of what had been a thriving metropolitan area now lay devastated and uninhabitable. As they crossed the road a small shower of rubble skittered down from one of the buildings close by. Weapons at the ready they moved forward with Shepard taking point. The apartment block was now a hollowed out shell and a section of the second floor had collapsed down creating a makeshift ramp to the upper floors. Scuff marks in the dust showed that someone had recently used it.
At her signal they waited at the bottom of the ramp, listening for any betraying sounds. From the floor above they could hear the subtle shift of feet followed by a quiet whimper and a hiss of retort. Stepping as quietly as she could, Shepard moved up slowly, trying to get a view of the second floor. Aside from the debris that littered the ground there were no signs indicating that this had ever been a home. In the far corner six heavily armed mercenaries had their guns trained on a group of unarmed civilians. Shepard counted two men, four women and a couple of kids sitting huddled together.
Moving carefully Shepard stepped out into view with Grunt and Miranda on either side, all with their guns focussed on the mercs. The men swore as they swung their weapons around but Shepard held her fire, not wanting to endanger the civilians unnecessarily.
"I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliance, put you weapons down!"
The mercs lowered their weapons slightly as it sank in who they were dealing with before the leader of the group stepped forward with his gun pointed straight at Shepard.
"Get the hell out of this district Alliance, you have no business here."
"This doesn't have to end badly just let them go and drop your weapons."
"Didn't you hear me bitch? Or do I need to put a bullet between those pretty eyes for you to get the message."
"The Reapers tried and failed – now back down!"
Shepard took in all of the details, looking at the distance between the men and the civilians, her mind racing to come up with the best way to get them all out of there alive.
The young girl took the decision out of her hands as she stepped forward fearlessly, glaring at the men.
"See I told you the Alliance would come after scum like you."
The leader of the group turned and backhanded the girl, sending her sprawling backwards with blood spilling from her split lip. With a cry of rage Miranda flared with pure biotic energy, slamming the man into the wall with an audible crack. The hostages screamed as the mercs raised their guns to fire but Shepard and Grunt took them down as Miranda flung the last man out of the window as he tried to go for the girl.
"It's alright, you're safe now." Shepard reassured them as she holstered her weapon. "Is everyone ok? Did they hurt you?"
Miranda was already on her knees beside the girl, checking her for injuries while Grunt cleared the rest of the floor. One of the men came forward, wringing his hands timidly.
"Are you really Commander Shepard?"
"Yes, I'm part of the team securing the city so that people can come back to their homes safely."
"You…..you saved our lives Commander. We can't thank you enough!"
She smiled gently. "It's alright, let's just get you somewhere safe for now."
They only had a couple of blocks to go before they reached the harbour and the rest of the Alliance forces. Moving quickly, they kept the civilians between them, trying to protect them as best as they could. Thankfully they didn't encounter any more hostile forces and when they reached Alliance Command the other teams had already begun to set up a temporary base camp.
Medics moved forward to check the civilians for injuries as Shepard and her team made their way to the command post. Jack and her students were already removing rubble from the entrance of the building so that a team could go through and secure it.
"Hey Shepard, so you finally decided to show up huh? Next time you'll have to let me know if you're having trouble dealing with a couple of mercs."
"Good to see you're still as charming as ever." Miranda quipped, rolling her eyes at Shepard.
"Figures you'd survive the Reapers." Jack's lip curled as she stood with her arms crossed, inspecting the other woman. "Just cause you told the Illusive Man to screw off doesn't mean we get to be friends, princess."
"Noted." Miranda's voice was frosty.
"But you took care of Sanctuary so I guess you're not much of a Cerberus cheerleader after all." Jack turned back towards her students before Miranda could do more than look stunned. Never one to miss a parting shot Jack did throw a sly look over her shoulder. "Good thing Shepard was there to save your ass though!"
Miranda's mouth worked to form a response but one look at the grin Shepard was trying to restrain and she gave up. She shrugged and gave an exasperated smile. "So she can act human, who knew?"
Shepard laughed, grateful that she wasn't going to have to break up another fight between the two powerful biotics with just her gun for company any time soon. She supposed they'd both mellowed since their time on the Normandy, both having found their own reasons to keep fighting. As she watched Jack banter with the students it was clear that having the "psychotic biotic" as their mentor was clearly something they were all proud of.
The students weren't the scared, unseasoned kids Shepard had rescued from Grissom Academy anymore. There was a new confidence in each of them, a faith in their own abilities that had made them a formidable force on the battlefield. Major Coates had confided in her after the battle for London that he wasn't sure how many more troops they would have lost had the students not been there for support. It seemed that the war had changed them all.
Had it really been less than a year since the Normandy had picked her up from this very bay as the Reapers had begun their attack? One Reaper corpse lay half in the water on the far side of the bay, a reminder that they were really gone and that the cycle of destruction was broken. A wave of emotion clogged her throat as she gazed out over the water. It seemed she had almost come full circle.
