Chapter 10: Descent
Down and down you fall, the air whistling by, twisting and turning you try to get your bearings, spreading your arms and legs out wide like a sky diver to get some stability. The wind is horrible, ripping at your skin, forcing your eyes open, and then it rips your targeting visor off of your head. Trying to turn your head to glance back at the visor you hear a whistling sound, then *BAM* you suddenly feel weightless. It takes a few seconds for you to understand what just happened, your armor is glowing in a purple biotic field! *Whack!* the visor collides with your head and bounces just out of reach falling below and out of sight. Another biotic force seems to slam into your back pushing you towards a darkened alcove, where Miranda is standing beside a very familiar krogan.
As the biotic pull wears off your feet touch down on the ledge "Nice to see your alive Miranda, I thought for a minute there I was going to be splattering the pavement right on top of you" you say with a grin.
"Commander this is a representative of Mr. Thax. We have had a few dealings in the past and when I caught myself in the fall he was kind enough to pull me to safety before the effect wore off." Miranda was always business around other people, it was a rather attractive trait of hers, the ability to put all personal feelings aside and focus on the task at hand.
Nodding to her you turn your gaze to the krogan "I do believe we have met before" you state simply as you push your right hand out towards him.
Shaking your hand the krogan gives you their closest approximation of a smile "Indeed. Mr. Thax wanted me to keep an eye on you if you returned to Illium Shepard. There has been a great deal of talk about you since our last encounter. It seems that someone is selling your DNA to another interested party. The goal, as we have been able to discern, is to create a great deal of clones of you that are to be used to infiltrate key areas of the Citadel. We don't know their purpose in the matter but suffice it to say we enjoy our profits upon the Citadel."
You can't help but smile slightly at that last comment "Looks like C-Sec has some unusual allies in the coming times. Any straight clones would be pointless thou, C-Sec has already scanned me and knows about the cybernetic implants used to bring me back. A purely genetic clone of me would just set off the alarms and raise a bunch of questions."
The krogan smiles and holds out his hands in a mock shrug "We did not say they planned to make pure clones of you only that we knew their intentions to a degree. However they plan to do this and whatever the ultimate goal is I have done what Mr. Thax contracted me to do. I suggest you return to the upper levels and check on your Quarian companion. She is liable to be in a great deal of trouble with the authorities after watching you thrown from a balcony" the krogan chuckles again, his eyes hold a malicious glint "I never thought I would respect a Quarian's prowess but that one has put on quite a show"
The mention of Tali has you turning back towards the ledge, until the krogan mentions a show "Do you have camera's up there or something? Show me what happened to Tali!" you snarl as you turn back to the krogan, reaching out to grasp the front of his shirt in both hands threateningly.
"Easy there Shepard, I have no reason to hide this from you". Tapping on his Omni-tool the krogan nods to your right where a security monitor was coming to life. A few more taps rewinds the tape to your entrance to the bar.
As the vid plays forward you shake your head "What an idiot... I should have realized the krogan the bartender mentioned were still in the bar, Tali and I didn't see any krogan leave."
Miranda smirks as she watches you thrown over the ledge "Well now Shepard, I never thought I would see you thrown about like a rag doll" Making a 'ha ha' face at Miranda you turn back to the video.
Tali reaches out towards you and her helmet light flashes, you know what she is saying but the vid has no audio. As you go over the edge Tali pulls out her Eviscerator shotgun and unloads a fiery incendiary shell into the krogan's back. The krogan arches back screaming as the fire burns through its suit and into its flesh, stopping its healing process. The second krogan was there then, grabbing Tali from behind and pushing her towards the ledge as well. You find yourself clenching your fists, the knuckles turning white and the image of flayed krogans comes to mind. Right then a scream cuts through the air as two Krogan fall past the ledge. Miranda exchanges a curious look with you and both of you turn back to the monitor.
The matriarch comes over the bar growling "Not again" you think but the vid isn't high enough quality to be certain what she is saying by lip reading. Her biotics flash and the krogan holding tali finds itself quite weightless suddenly. A feral roar seems to come from the approaching asari as she draws her arm back then plunges her hand into the krogan's back like a dagger. The arching back and the shuddering motion tell you the poor krogan is in a great deal of pain.
'Good', you think 'The bastard deserves it for wanting to harm Tali'. A moment later the matriarch pulls her arm back and a sickly long white object comes out with her hand.
"Good god" Miranda whispers. The matriarch had quite literally ripped out one of the krogan's two spinal columns. Winding up like an earth baseball player the bartender slams the spine into the krogan's back like a baseball bat and sends the alien flying forward, straight into his companion who was just recovering from the incendiary shotgun blast to the back.
The two collide and go tumbling over the railing, with a disgusted look the bartender tosses the spine over the railing a moment later then offers her clean hand to Tali. "I've seen enough. How do we get back up there from here?" you ask turning to where the krogan informant used to be. Glancing around quickly you notice he is nowhere to be found. "Damn... I hate these shadowy helpers."
Miranda smirks "This way Commander. There is a shuttle waiting for us across the walkway. You do tend to pick up the strangest allies" she says with a flip of her hair. Not even bothering to reply you follow her to the shuttle. Within 10 minutes of being thrown over the balcony you find yourself standing inside the bar again. Tali has her back to you at the bar where she is talking to the bartender. A quick motion from you keeps the bartender from giving you away as you sneak up behind Tali.
"I can't believe he is gone" Tali is saying while the matriarch is looking down at the floor trying to hide her smile, cleaning a glass with a towel to keep her hands busy. "I just... " Tali begins again when you wrap your arms about her.
"Miss me that much?" you say. Tali was in motion the moment your arms began to slip around her, spinning to face you her shotgun already in her hands, it falls to the floor harmlessly as she stares at you.
"Shepard..." her voice seems to just go away, no words come to her and then you are holding each other tightly.
"I told you I wasn't going to leave you." you whisper softly to her.
Miranda just has to ruin the moment "Yes well now that we are back together perhaps we should go check in on Liara? She isn't here so obviously something has happened to her. We need to find out who the Shadow Broker is selling to and what has happened to Liara if we are going to put a stop to this"
With a sigh you close your eyes relishing holding Tali close for just a moment longer, then both of you let go and nod to each other. "We are going to have to take some quality time after all of this Tali, I think you would like that retirement home I won from the bet with Agrhen back on Pinnacle Station."
Tali grins beneath her helmet and nods "Whatever you like Shepard... I will be there."