"Are you sure about this, Miranda? I never trusted him, but I'd never expect something like this from him." I said, my eyes fixed on the screen.
"That's why Cerberus chose him, so no one would suspect anything." replied Miranda, suddenly showing up on the screen where I just heard a conversation between Illusive Man and Councilor Donnel Udina.
"Salarian councilor knows about this, that's the reason for the attack on Citadel." Miranda continued with her explanation of the situation in a hurry. "Shepard, you must prevent the attack."
"I'm afraid it's too late for that." I said, hearing the sudden gunshots from outside. "But I'm gonna find the Salarian Councilor."
"Be careful, Shepard." said Miranda before she disappeared from screen.
It wasn't so long ago when I saw Illusive Man as a hologram, even talked to him. I should've asked better questions, should've known he'd plan something like this, maybe even join him, that way I could've prevented all of this. But yet again I made the wrong decisions.
Cerberus operatives were already here, killing everyone in their path. I managed to get to C-sec undetected, but the battle going on there prevented me from moving on. Fighting my way through, I found Bailey, wounded, sitting on the ground. With his help, we cleared the rest of Cerberus soldiers.
"I'm glad you were still here, Shepard." sighted Bailey, sitting behind the desk. He must've been in great pain, but he tried his best to hide it. "We need to find the councilors."
"I'll find them, just tell me where to look." I placed my hand on his shoulder when he started getting up and pushed him back into the seat. "You stay here and keep me updated on the situation."
"All right, Shepard. Head to the embassies first and-" he stopped and pushed a few buttons on a console. "Wait a second, it's Salarian Councilor. There's a message here warning about a betrayal in the council?"
"Yeah, it's Udina. I need to find them both." I said. "I'll keep in touch, Bailey. You stay out of trouble and contact Normandy."
"Yeah, yeah, it's not like I'm going anywhere." he replied and I ran to the embassies as fast as I could.
I found more Cerberus soldiers on my way there. For a second I wished that my crew was here. But I could at least hope they'd get here in time. Fighting without my armor proved to be difficult, not talking about how much time I had to spend behind cover.
When I got to the embassies, I was already out of breath. I took a look around, a lot of bodies were spread over the hall and on the lower level. Cerberus left no one alive.
"Shepard." whispered a voice near me and I instinctively pointed my gun towards the voice. But then a Salarian councilor appeared in front of me and I lowered my weapon, sighting in relief.
"Are you all right, councilor?" I asked, checking him briefly for injuries before he nodded. "Where's Udina?"
"You know about him?" asked the councilor, suspicious of my question.
"Commader Bailey of C-sec found your message." I hid the fact that I knew about the betrayal from Miranda, not wanting to cause any more harm to both me and Miranda. Right now, I needed the Councilor to trust me.
"He's with the rest of the council, we need to hurry."
"Lead the way, but stay close-" I said, turning around just in time to dodge the sword. I took a few steps back, moving closer to the councilor. I knew the man standing in front of me, I let him get away once. "Councilor, get away from here, I'll deal with this guy."
The Councilor nodded and backed away, the assassin took a few steps forward, but I stood in his path.
I had no armor, the weapon I picked from the Cerberus soldier on the way here didn't have much ammo left. Even though I aimed it at him, firing two rounds before giving it up, I didn't have enough to get through his shields. And he was aware of that, that smug expression on his face showed the outcome of our battle.
But I didn't need to kill him, only slow him down, hopefully, the Normandy or anyone else would get here in time.
He was getting ready, drawing his sword and surprisingly, he was taking his sweet time with it, enjoying the moment. But as slowly as he drew his sword, the faster he charged me with it, going straight for my throat. I dodged, but he was faster and with his free hand, he threw me across the room. I hit the glass window and flew out onto the lower level. For a second I noticed the Salarian Councilor. So the objective was to get us both, great.
I tried standing up, but the pain in my back stopped me from doing so. I moved back, hitting the table behind me, using it to get back on my feet. The assassin was already here, slowly walking towards me, smiling.
When I dodged another of his attacks, I managed to kick him back. He stumbled, but didn't seem to be hurt by it. I inhaled, ignoring the pain, and charged forward. The steel of his sword cut my cheek, but I didn't stop. With one hand I stopped his sword coming at me from behind and punched him into the stomach with my other hand. This time I managed to deal some pain to him. His sword flew out of his hand, he ignored that and caught my wrist, gripping them hard enough to break them. I held back a cry of pain when he pulled me forward and his foot buried into my stomach. I bent forward in pain, before he let go of my wrists and kicked me again, this time I hit the table behind me, causing another stab of pain to my back.
I rolled to the side, getting up on my elbows, coughing up blood. I could hardly breathe and my vision was blurry, I didn't see him coming. Another kick to my side turned me around, now I was lying on my back. It took only a second, but it seemed to me like eternity. It seemed like I had so much time to move to the side or stop it, but I couldn't move. I barely caught the blade before it completely sank into my stomach, gripping it even though it cut my hands, but at least it wouldn't kill me, or so I thought.
The pain was enough to make me go unconscious and he knew it, as he took the blade out. I turned my head just in time to notice that the Councilor was still in the room. I caught the assassin's leg, but it didn't take long and the dizziness caught up to me and even though I tried so hard to keep them open, my eyes closed and I fell asleep.
Just wanted to tell you all who are reading this story that I'll be away for a week so I don't know when the next chapter will come out, but I'll try to do my best and post it as soon as I return.
