Chapter 9: Citadel II – The Betrayal
"Man!" James complained. "What do I do, loco? I left that laser on the ground the previous mission! What a waste. I was getting real good with it."
Shepard just ignored him. There were more important things at hand at the moment. No matter what he did, Joker couldn't establish contact with the Citadel. He stood and watched, provided eye support, and even cheered Joker on a little, but the pilot still couldn't produce a signal from the Citadel.
"I've been at it for a few minutes now, commander," Joker said. "The Citadel still hasn't responded. Maybe there's a malfunction in their systems or something."
Shepard was annoyed. He didn't have all day. "Just land. We'll deal with anything else after that."
Joker gave up. "Alright, commander."
As Joker brought in the Normandy to the loading docks, Shepard returned to the galaxy map to stand there. He took his position in front of the map, and waited. Someone was going to answer some questions when they got down there. He didn't like to be kept waiting.
The Cerberus trooper had taken out the last of the communications officers. He was hiding in one of the supply closets, a predator pistol ready. The trooper had found him, and before he could let loose even one bullet, the trooper grabbed his gun and smashed it back against the officer's face, knocking him out. Following that, the other Cerberus troopers had gathered the unconscious bodies of the officers, and put them in the middle, where the Helghast soldiers took care of them. Permanently.
"All comms officers taken care of, sir," the trooper said.
The Helghast colonel stepped over the bodies, and walked over to the console. Pulling out his new StA-18 pistol, given to him directly from the manufacturer of Stahl Arms, he terminated the console, and all its channels, shooting at it until fire bloomed from it.
"Cleared," he said, turning around. "Clear out the rest of the Citadel."
Shepard climbed out of the Normandy just in time to see Helghast soldiers execute the information clerk, and two other turians.
"Oh, no you don't!" he shouted, charging at the Helghast. He launched a concussive shot at the first one, knocking him against the wall, shot the second one with his phaeston assault rifle, and used his omni-blade to kill the last one. Before any of his teammates got out to help, Shepard had taken them all out. He felt cool.
He turned and called back before proceeding further. "The Citadel's under attack! Let's go, team!"
James shouted back to the commander as he jumped off the Normandy. "Commander! You haven't chosen who's going with you yet!"
Shepard stopped. "Oh yeah."
He felt dumb, forgetting something as simple as that. Even James could remember that. He was going to go on and on about it in his mind, but he decided that saving the Citadel was more important than that right now. He turned to his teammates. He had to pick two teammates from so many. He could choose from Liara, James, Garrus, Mason, Master Chief, EDI, Salem, and Rios.
"Hmmm…" Shepard said out loud. "Tough choice now."
After a few minutes of the usage of strenuous mind power, Shepard had an answer.
"Salem, Rios," he said. "I haven't brought you guys on a mission as teammates yet, so I pick you guys."
"Awesome," Salem cheered.
"And I also choose, Liara." Shepard said, startling everyone.
Liara stepped forward. "Shepard, I think you've exceeded the maximum number of companions you can bring with you."
"Nope," Shepard answered, grinning. "I've got the right number."
"You can only bring two team members, Shepard. You clearly chose three."
Mumbling arose from the rest of the crew, but Shepard's answer silenced them.
"Salem and Rios count as one person," he said, very happily. "I wouldn't be able to bring one of them without the other, so they're one person. And so, I am only bringing two members along with me!"
"Makes sense," Rios shrugged.
Shepard continued before Liara could counter that statement. "Anyways, Salem, Rios, and Liara are coming with me. We're going to find someone who might have an idea of what's going on. Chief, you, Garrus, and James head to the hospital wing. Make sure everyone there is ok, and if Cerberus has it locked down, take it back."
Chief nodded in agreement. Garrus and James just got their guns out, ready for action.
Shepard continued. "Mason, you and EDI head to the comms room. Get a signal out and let the Alliance know of this attack."
"Got it," Mason answered.
"Ok, you've all got your missions! Move out!"
With that, Shepard turned on his heel, and ran off towards the steps to the presidium, with Rios, Salem, and Liara following. Not too far off, he saw a wounded man, leaning against the nearby wall. He recognized him as he got closer.
"Bailey!" Shepard shouted.
He ran towards the C-Sec commander, ready to administer medi-gel.
Bailey waved him off. "I'm fine, Shepard. Just waiting for someone to show up."
Proving his point, Bailey stood up.
"Anyways," Bailey said. "Cerberus didn't get it without help. Someone on the inside gave them access. Had to be. I've got news that the salarian councillor might know what's up. Find him, and find out why Cerberus is here."
"Alright," Shepard agreed. "We'll find them, then. I'll keep going. You stay here and recover your HP. Keep in contact."
"Got it. See you later, Shepard. I'll provide information as you go."
Master Chief ran along the outskirts of an abandoned plaza. Many bodies littered the floor. Most of them were civilians. Some were Cerberus and Helghast. Garrus had managed to take a few down with his sniping skills before Chief and James had joined in to kill the rest. Chief took a quick survey of the dead. The civilians were all unarmed. Cerberus probably just came in and started shooting everything that moved. There was even a hanar on the far side, under a tree. Even the jellyfish didn't get away.
James called out from the right side. "Area's clear here."
Chief and Garrus nodded their agreements. Cerberus was no longer here. The attack force here had most likely reached the hospital by now. Chief's group had to hurry. The patients' lives are in their hands. James led the way up the nearby staircase. In a situation like this, it was better to find the stairs than the lifts. Cerberus had likely stored bomb traps in the elevators, waiting to catch unwary civilians that they might have missed out. They checked the area ahead. It was a long hallway with some paths splintering off to the left. Garrus went around the first corner with his phaeston out. He checked back with Chief. It was clear. James travelled to the second. Rounding the corner, James immediately turned back, using the wall as cover.
Chief whispered over, sensing trouble. "What's wrong?"
James shook his head vigorously. "It's all good. It's just that we have a big reptilian monster around the corner, is all."
Garrus stared at James. "That's not trouble?"
Chief shook his head as well. He moved ahead in front of James. The hospital was to their left. The monster stood in between them, and the lives of many. They had to take it down. Readying his assault rifle, Chief rushed around the corner. Drawn to the sound, the creature looked up, revealing it's ugly face, and razor sharp teeth. It was holding on to a body of a dead salarian. Seeing live prey, it dropped the body and charged straight at the Chief. Chief did a combat roll at the last second, ducking and rolling right under its steel-shredding claws, and around it. Performing a quick turn, he raised his rifle to bash his target. Without warning, the creature leaped away, avoiding the attack. Chief recovered his position and opened fire on the creature. It had fast reflexes, able to jump around, avoiding a lot of the bullets. Being a Spartan and all, Chief was able to hit the creature a fair amount, but it didn't seem to faze it at all. James and Garrus started shooting from the corner, startling the beast with their sudden fire. James's shotgun blasts pushed the creature forward, while Garrus's sniper rounds pierced the creature's armored hide. The creature roared in pain, but before it could react further, Chief rushed it again, this time hammering the beast with his rifle butt right in the middle of its head. As the beast's head turned from the blow of the hit, a sniper round blew a hole through one of its eyes and out the other. With one final roar, the creature fell, beaten.
"Nice shot, Garrus," James whooped.
"Alright, let's keep going," Chief interrupted. "We need to get to the hospital. Fast."
Mason led the way, as he and EDI headed up the slope to the comms room. It was a quick dash here. They only had to face about three Cerberus patrols to get here. With EDI's decoy ability, they had fooled a bunch of them, getting past most of them with ease. The last group gave them a little trouble, turning around and seeing Mason and EDI sneaking by. Using quick tech skills, Mason and EDI had created a tech explosion using a tech shockwave, and an incinerate, engulfing the soldiers in a fiery 'shockwave fire explosion'. Moving on now, Mason and EDI stood before the door to the comms room.
"Ready?" Mason signalled.
EDI nodded in response, besides checking her M-9 Tempest SMG. With a quick huff, Mason turned and hacked the mechanism, opening the door, and startling some Cerberus and Helghast troops. Some tried to raise their rifles to fire, but bullets got to them first. Taking down the front wave of soldiers, Mason and EDI took cover behind chest-high consoles.
"I've taken a quick account of the situation," EDI voiced across to Mason. "There are four Cerberus troops, and two Helghast troops remaining."
"Great job," Mason said. "Let's finish this."
EDI released another decoy, prompting the soldiers to shoot at it, while Mason got up and fired a singularity at them. One of the Cerberus soldiers got out of the way with a dodge roll, but the others weren't fast enough. Not too long after that, the singularity imploded, taking the Cerberus and Helghast troops with it. Only one soldier remained. Mason rushed to the soldier as he made a grab for his gun. With one swift kick, Mason knocked him away. EDI moved in and picked up his rifle.
Mason grabbed the downed soldier by the neck armor, and lifted him up. "What is Cerberus doing here?"
The soldier said nothing, and suddenly developed a violent shudder. Mason had to drop him, taking a few steps back as well.
"What's going on?" Mason questioned out loud.
"It appears he is going through a form of seizure," EDI analyzed.
"Alright," Mason said. "Go send the signal. I'll watch this guy in case he tries something funny."
EDI ran towards the main console, and brought up screens of data and began working. Mason continued to watch the Cerberus soldier as he started a stronger spasm. Suddenly, the armor began breaking apart, revealing scales underneath.
"Great…" Mason dragged. "Here we go."
He readied his rifle, prepared to shoot once the transformation was over. He couldn't shoot it while it was transforming, because it would defeat the purpose of action. Tossing and turning, the soldier's armor began to fall off, revealing a mass of scales and claws. Standing it, the Cerberus soldier was gone. What stood in his place was a hunter, ready to kill.
"Alright, monster. Let's do this."
Mason charged at it, his gun blazing.
The lone character moved from his hiding spot, careful not to make too much noise. He moved along in his half crouch position, knowing that when he squats like that, he is invisible to his enemies. He gripped tightly to his laser pistol. He checked the battery pack on his pistol.
"Three quarters," he said. "Good enough."
He squatted behind a derelict fountain. He looked up. Cerberus forces were positioned in front of his location. He checked his pip-boy's map system. The Old Fashion Guns shop was just ahead, around the bend. He just needed to get past these Cerberus soldiers.
He smiled to himself. "Good thing war never changes."
He moved off from the fountain in his sneaking stance, taking care to stay out of sight of the soldiers. He checked his 'detection meter' on his pip-boy. It still said he was undetected.
"Good," he thought to himself.
Walking past the soldiers, he arrived around the bend. He could see the guns shop from here, but a Cerberus Engineer and his turret stood in his way. He smiled to himself again. The engineer was the only enemy that stood in his way. He should be able to sneak around this guy easily. He activated his inventory in the pip-boy. With a push of a button, he swapped out his Brotherhood of Steel armor with his recon armor.
"This'll help me sneak by a little better," he said to himself, again.
Moving to the engineer in his half-crouch position, he pulled out his pistol, ready to take out the engineer when he got nearer. Suddenly, the engineer turned to him, and an exclamation appeared over his omni-tool.
"What? Who are you!" the engineer barked.
"You can see me?" the character asked, clearly shocked that he was seen in his crouch position.
The engineer didn't answer, and activated his turret. The wanderer tried to use his VATs ability, but the turret caught him straight in the chest.
"What?" he said in more shock. "Time is supposed to freeze when I do that!"
However, before the turret could rip him to pieces, an unknown figure had stepped behind the engineer, silently taking him out before anyone knew what was going on. The wanderer looked. The turret had stopped firing on him, giving him a little more time to live. The silent figure had destroyed the turret with some kind of futuristic gun that he had never seen before. He recognized the figure. It was a person he had many arguments with in the past.
"Snake?" he asked. "What are you doing here? I thought you retired? What's that gun?"
"This?" Snake said. "This is a M-11 Suppressor. It's a normal gun. And I can't just sit around when these guys are killing everyone."
"What? I've never seen anything like that, but my laser guns."
"Yours? Yours are old fashioned."
"Nooo," the wanderer said.
He began coughing, blood splurting out of his mouth. Snake stepped to his side.
"Didn't I tell you?" Snake said. "War… has changed."
The lone wanderer just shook his head and grinned out of the side of his mouth.
Taking his last breath, he said, "Maybe I should have believed that."
And he was gone.
Shepard and his team had arrived at the office levels. Apparently, the salarian councillor was around here somewhere, according to Bailey. He really hated to find people, but at least this area provided lots of chest-high cover. Suddenly, a red laser danced around on his chest.
"Hmm?" Shepard wondered. "What's this?"
He stared at it for a longer time. After too long, Rios tackled him down, just as the gunshot blasted out.
"Sniper!" Salem shouted.
Everyone got behind cover. Cerberus and Helghast troops filed in, their guns ready.
"Of course," Shepard shouted for the enemies to hear. "Nothing's ever that easy!"
He took a look over the cover. There were two snipers. By their armor, he could tell that one was a Cerberus sniper, and the other a Helghast.
He turned back to his teammates. "Great. We've got a Helghast Sniper and a Cerberus Nemesis out there, besides all the normal troops."
Salem leaned closer. "Rios and I could go around to flank them. If you and Liara could generate enough aggro, we could get by unnoticed."
Shepard understood their plan. When they had joined him, they taught him about using aggro to grab all the attention, while others could sneak around the enemies to take them out by surprise.
"Do it," Shepard ordered.
Salem and Rios smiled, and walked over to the far table, ready to move once Shepard got the enemy attention. Without wasting any time, Shepard stood and sprayed his gun in a wide arc, shouting loudly as he did it. Liara joined in, shooting a singularity towards some troops, snagging a few into the black hole. Shepard aimed at them and shot, taking out the floating ones. They quickly ducked back down just as the sniper shots hit the tables they were hiding behind. Shepard whistled at how close he came to losing his head, but his head was too big to go down like that. He looked over to the other side. Salem and Rios were gone. They were likely already behind the enemy lines. Shepard just needed to keep them distracted a while longer. He pulled out a frag grenade and tossed it towards the enemy forces. Liara used her static ability to keep them all in place as the grenade flew towards them. The explosion killed most of the ground forces. Suddenly, Salem and Rios appeared above, each one taking out the snipers with well-placed headshots. Shepard and Liara stood from cover and finished off the remaining Cerberus and Helghast forces with their bullets. Clearing out the whole floor, Shepard spun around, taking a good look at the aftermath. All the enemies were dead, and they didn't even struggle to kill any of them.
"Don't mess with Shepard!" the commander shouted.
Liara broke his celebration. "Let's go. The salarian councillor is around here somewhere."
Chief's group arrived at the front door to the Huerta Memorial Hospital. They had fought a few Metal Gear Atlas's on the way here, but Chief could take them out easily. Garrus opened the front door, immediately taking cover behind the walls to the door. Helghast forces started shooting in their direction, narrowly missing James's face.
"Woah!" the ISA soldier shouted. "That was too close!"
He turned back and fired a carnage at the Helghast, exploding one of them. The others dodged out of the way, but Garrus fired a concussive shot, taking out two more Higs. Chief ran up ahead. He took a few shots to the chest, but his energy shielding deflected them all. Reaching the Helghast nearest to him, Chief bashed him with his rifle, most likely crushing his chin. He ran to the second using the first Helghast's body, and shot away with his rifle, pelting the second Hig with half his clip. The third one was a Helghast engineer, and he had set up two turrets at the back, ready to shoot back once Chief came into range. He never got the chance. A drell dropped out of nowhere, and with a few nimble strikes, took out the engineer. He picked up the controls disabled the turrets.
James ran up, amused. "Whoa. How did you use the controls? I thought you could only kill the turrets by guns."
The drell looked confused at the statement. "No. Engineers always carry controls. You can use them."
"Sweet," James replied.
The ISA soldier was clearly amused by learning about controls for turrets, but they still had a job to do.
"Are there anymore enemies in the building?" Chief asked the drell.
"I've taken care of the rest in the hospital wing," he replied. "Although I did see one taking an overlord dropship out. He wore decorative armor. Most likely a leader or something. One of the soldiers did mention his name. Radec."
James, who was hardly paying any attention to what the drell was saying, suddenly jumped at the mention of 'Radec'.
"No way!" he uttered. "Colonel Radec? Here? We're all dead."
Garrus didn't know what was going on. "What? What so bad about this Colonel Radec?"
James took a deep breath to control himself. "Colonel Mael Radec. Everyone in the ISA knows about him. He's the Helghast's Autarch's right-hand man. He's skilled in everything! He alone could change the outcome in a battle!"
"Great," Chief thought.
Just what they needed. A game changer character. Chief turned to the drell for more questions.
"By the way," he said. "I didn't get your name."
The drell turned to him. "Thane Krios."
Shepard arrived at the councillor's office. He searched high and low, even taking a look under the desk, but the salarian councillor was nowhere to be seen.
"Fishy," Shepard said. "Maybe it's a trap."
Rios, who was looking out a window, turned to Shepard. "I think I found him!"
Shepard ran to the window to take a look. True enough, the salarian councillor was there, crawling out from under a desk on the first floor. Shepard bashed his fist on the glass, but it didn't break.
"Great," he said. "Bulletproof glass."
The salarian councillor looked up and saw Shepard's team. He gave them a wave and a smile of relief. Shepard waved back, but a shadow in the far corner caught his attention. Taking a closer look, Shepard realized it was a human. A human who rushed towards the salarian councillor. As the human got nearer, he pulled out a blade, ready to finish the councillor. Shepard tried to warn him, but the glass prevented his voice from reaching the councillor. Salem and Rios wasted no time, immediately rushing to the window and doing jump-kicks, crashing out of the window and landing right between the salarian councillor and the assassin. Shepard looked down.
"Man," he said. "I wish I did that. That was cool."
Liara looked at him. "You compare even the small things like that?"
Shepard didn't answer. He couldn't think of anything to counter that statement, so he just stowed his rifle, and jumped out the window. He would have landed on his face, if it wasn't for Liara's biotics, landing him safely on his belly. He quickly got up and readied his rifle again, towards the assassin.
"Who are you?" Shepard asked.
He took a better look at the assassin. He wore some kind of visor, and grey-black armor. He had a Cerberus logo on his chest.
"My name doesn't matter," the assassin said. "It's Kai Leng."
Salem and Rios moved around his sides, blocking off his exit. Shepard stepped in front of the councillor, while Liara guarded the councillor. All guns were pointed to Kai Leng. The assassin didn't fight back, instead dropping his blade, and raising his hands to surrender.
"Glad you didn't try to take on the Shepard," Shepard told him.
Kai Leng smiled, making Shepard question his choice to step forward to arrest him. Shepard's quick movement saved him, just as an energy blast shot out of Kai Leng's right palms, heating the air around Shepard's face, as he did a necessary dodge roll. Another blast came out from his other hand, aimed directly for the salarian councillor. He would have been hit if not for Liara, who brought up a biotic field to negate the shot. Kai Leng quickly back flipped out of the way as Salem and Rios starting shooting. The bullets whizzed past his form as he flipped out of their deadly passage.
Shepard turned back to shout to Liara. "Get the councillor out of here! We'll hold him back!"
"Is that allowed?" She shouted back.
"Just go!"
Liara wasted no more time, turned back to the corridor and leading the councillor out. Once she vanished, Shepard turned his focus back to Kai Leng, who had dodged back behind some desks.
"Are you sure we're allowed to only have two people in the team?" Salem asked.
"Not really," Shepard answered. "But the last time I sent someone away, someone else joined really fast, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see."
As they spoke, more Cerberus and Helghast soldiers airdropped in from the glass ceiling, landing next to Kai Leng. The assassin stood and pointed to Shepard's gang.
"Take them out," he ordered.
The man had silently hid in the balcony, watching the outcome. Earlier, he had followed a few Cerberus soldiers and unexpectedly arrived at his current location. He surveyed his surroundings and his enemies. There weren't too many enemies down there, but there was one he found rather familiar. He had dealt with him before in the past. They had even worked together at one point, but he turned to the dark side. The assassin, Kai Leng. The man stood and watched his former ally ordering the Cerberus and Helghast soldiers around. There was another group of people down there that Kai Leng was trying to kill. The man watched them. They seemed like good guys here, so he would help them. He activated his visor, which were like two eye patches with three red dots each, switching to his AR vision. With it, he could see through the walls and plan out his attack. After getting all the information he needed, he turned it off and unsheathed his blade. Electric pulsed down the blade as he removed it. It's been a long time since he last took out his sword, but he didn't need practice. It was in his blood to wield this weapon. He prepared his stance, and when he was ready, he leapt down, his target right under him.
He remembered the phrase he had once said. He had lived up to it, and he would not fail.
Falling down, he uttered it once more. "I am lightning…"
Kai Leng had sensed the attack before it hit him, dodging out of the way as the blade passed down right in front of his nose. The blade quickly moved off to the left as Kai Leng slid to the opposite side. The Cerberus trooper nearest to him was cut, cleanly in half as the blade danced around. He recognized the style. The attacker had taken out the whole squad of Cerberus troopers in a matter of seconds. The Helghast soldiers behind him quaked in fear. They didn't want to end up like their Cerberus counterparts. The attack, however, gave Shepard all the time he needed to ready his attack. With a battle cry, he jumped over the desk he was hiding behind, and stabbed a Helghast soldier with his omni-blade. Using his lifeless body as cover, Shepard moved across to a pillar as bullets pelted the body he held on to. Salem and Rios stood up from the opposite side, getting there quietly, while Shepard generated aggro. They shot back from behind, taking out more of the Helghast forces. Kai Leng had dodged through the bullets, landing face to face with the man with the sword.
"Raiden," he said, remembering the ghost from his past.
Raiden remembered when he had met Kai Leng. They were soldiers on the field of battle. They had teamed up to stop a group of insurgents from killing a whole village. Kai Leng had been sent by the Chinese Special Forces. The same group that had hired Big Mama, or 'EVA'. Kai Leng had helped him engage all the insurgents, taking them down with great skill, but after that, Kai Leng wanted to blow up the town to gain access to a secret oil deposit under it. That was where Raiden had to stop him. He hadn't seen him since then, and it looked like he had also gotten cyborg enhancements as well.
"Kai Leng," Raiden responded. "Still working for the wrong people?"
Kai Leng smirked at him. "What does it matter?"
Without warning, Kai Leng whipped out his blade and dashed towards Raiden. Raiden countered it as it neared him, deflecting it with his own. Shepard watched the battle from the side, admiring the newcomer. Instead of helping out, Salem, Rios, and himself grabbed chairs and took a seat in the corner where it was safer for them, and watched. The sword battle was vicious. Sparks were flying every now and then, but Raiden's sword had electric running out of it, so it was kind of hard to tell. Kai Leng shot a few energy blasts at the ninja, but he deflected them with his sword easily.
"We are almost equal in power," Kai Leng taunted.
"Clearly, not," Raiden countered.
As they continued to fight, bullets burst out from an opened elevator. Kai Leng and Raiden dodged backwards, separating their fight. Shepard turned to see the ones who had interrupted the awesome swordplay. It was Chief's team, and they had brought a friend.
"Thane!" Shepard got up from his seat. "Glad you could make it."
"Yes," the drell said. "When I had heard that you were going to rescue the councillor, I thought I'd drop by and assist. But it looks like I won't have to now."
"Good to see you too, Thane," Raiden said.
"Really small galaxy," Shepard muttered. Everyone seemed to know each other.
While they were busy chatting, Kai Leng ran for the exit. Chief was the first to see him, and rushed after him. Having superhuman speed, Chief overtook him easily. Turning, Kai Leng shot energy beams at him, but Chief's energy shielding protected him from the damage. Chief shot back, but Kai Leng dodged the bullets as he made for the edge of the building. Sprinting faster, Kai Leng jumped off. Chief stopped at the edge to locate him. He didn't have to wait long, as Kai Leng, standing atop a skycar, floated up, and zoomed off.
Chief turned back to Shepard's group. "He's getting away!"
"He's most likely after the councillor!" Shepard shouted. "We've got to stop him!"
"Ok," Chief planned. "My team will take a skycar and go after him. How about your team take the ground area and catch up to Liara?"
Shepard didn't like to be ordered around, but it was a good plan.
"Alright," the commander said. "See you guys later."
He turned to Raiden. "Why not come with us?"
Raiden sheathed his blade and nodded. "Alright."
"Charge!" Shepard shouted, running ahead before his teammates could say anything else.
Salem and Rios shrugged, and they ran after him, along with their new ninja friend.
Liara and the councillor ran past the west gardens as they tried to find a safe place to hide. Liara had taken out two Helghast troops on the way here, killing both of them with shots to the head. She had also run past a suspicious cardboard box near the fountain, but she didn't think too much about it. They rounded a corner, when a red dot started dancing on the councillor's forehead. With a quick throw from with her biotics, Liara pushed him away just in time, as the bullet ripped through the air and pierced the floor not too far from their position. Liara ducked behind a well-placed bench. She peeked over the cover, sighting a nemesis with her sniper rifle aimed towards the councillor's position. If he moved out from where he was, she would probably get him. Liara shot out a singularity from her cover, incapacitating the nemesis, who managed to get a bullet out, shredding the floor inches from Liara's feet. Liara used a throw on the floating nemesis, sending her flying over a building and out of sight. With that out of the way, she collected the councillor and continued their escape. As they ran, voices were heard over one of the next corners.
"This way! I saw one of them!" the voice said.
Liara ducked down behind another chest-high wall, waiting to ambush the attacker. The footsteps grew louder, and before long, the footsteps appeared within her area. Popping out from cover, Liara aimed her pistol and fired a few rounds, before realizing that she was shooting at Mason and EDI.
"Whoa!" she shouted. "Sorry about that. Thought you were Cerberus."
"Yeah, us too," Mason said, trying to catch his breath. "We've alerted the Alliance of the attack. Admiral Hackett said he'd send down some reinforcements as soon as he can."
"Shouldn't you have finished long ago?" Liara asked. "It's not that hard for a mechanic right?"
Mason grinned. "Not too easy when you've got a hunter attacking you."
Liara's eyes widened. "Oh, those! You fought one?"
Mason's grin widened. "Yup! Killed it even. Wasn't too hard. Just had to work a shockwave and a singularity together, and BOOM!"
Without warning, a Cerberus soldier appeared around the corner. It was female, but it had different armor from a nemesis. It even had a sword. Mason shot at her, but she dodged with incredible acrobatic skill, and closed the distance between them. Liara shot at her with her SMG, but the Cerberus soldier still dodged the bullets with amazing speed and agility. Suddenly, as she got closer, the Cerberus operative cloaked herself.
"Ok," Mason shouted for everyone to hear. "That's good! Cloak! We can't see you!"
Mason shot bursts of three bullets around, hoping to hit the operative. Nothing dropped dead, so he guessed he missed.
"I tried to catch the fog earlier," he told Liara. "I mist."
Liara just stared at him. "What was that? Sounded like a zombie joke."
"If we pinpoint it accurately," EDI added. "It is not a zombie joke, but a fungus joke."
Liara just forgot about everything that just happened. She didn't want to discuss jokes with mechanics and synthetics. She turned around, searching for the attacker. The only thing that caught her eye was the suspicious cardboard box from earlier. Apparently, it had gotten nearer. She chose to ignore it again, looking for the Cerberus woman instead. EDI circled around a display bush, checking the surrounding area. Mason took a look around some dumpsters. People used to hide in them. Until they installed the mini incinerators at the bottom, so no way she was hiding in there. Liara took a look around the nearby fountain. If she could lure the woman there, the water ripple should reveal her location. Taking a quick look around, she then took a few steps into the fountain. She controlled herself as the cold seeped into her skin.
"Brrr," she shivered, but managed to control herself from shaking too much.
Waiting, she took a look at EDI and Mason's progress. Mason looked towards her and shook his head. Still nothing. Turning her head back to the fountain, Liara failed to see a shimmering form rising behind Mason as he searched the trash, weapon ready for the kill.
The phantom had readied her blade. The target would not even notice her, until it was too late. She would then slip away, her location unknown to everyone. She approached her target slowly, careful not to make any sound. He swivelled around on his heels, checking the area readily. The phantom, hunched down into a crouch, almost ready to sink her blade into his abdomen. She raised her hand, ready to plunge the blade into her target, when a scuttle of a sound drew her attention to her right. No one was there. Just an old cardboard box.
"Meh," the phantom told herself. "It's just a box."
Turning her attention back to her target, she readied her blade once more. As he went in for the kill strike, hands grappled around her head.
"Impossible," she thought. "I'm invisible."
With one quick motion from the hands, it was all over, her body falling to the ground with a thud.
Mason turned as a body materialized in front of him. It startled him, but he watched as it fell to the ground, dead.
"Whoa!" he shouted out in surprise, taking a few steps back. "What just happened?!"
A man walked over the dead body towards him. He wore a tight sneaking suit, with a bandanna accessory on his head, along with a cool mechanized eye patch.
"Just saved your life, pal," he told Mason. "If I didn't take out that phantom, you wouldn't be talking to me right now."
Mason took a good look at the body as Liara and EDI came over. The phantom, as it was called, had some kind of stealth shield generator.
"What happened?" Liara asked.
She took a look at the sneaking suit man, and gasped.
"It's him!" she shouted out. "The legendary Solid Snake!"
"That's me," Snake said.
"The database says that you're retired," EDI analysed. "What brings you to a place like this?"
"Well," the legendary hero said. "As you can see, I am getting old, but new technology's managed to remove my virus, so I retired to the old man's home at the Presidium Parade. Seeing an attack like this, even an old man like me couldn't sit around and watch. I had to do something."
Liara and Mason nodded, when Liara suddenly noticed something. She turned her head around, looking for something.
"Ummm," Mason asked. "Something the matter, Liara?"
She turned back, her eyes full of shock. "The councillor! He's gone!"
Shepard ran as fast as he could. He and his team had to catch up to Liara. Who knows where the Asian assassin might be now. Using a skycar, he must have covered way more ground than Shepard imagined. Hopefully Chief was hard on his tail. Shepard realized he was lost after a few turns ahead.
"Great," he said, slapping his thigh. "Where are we now?"
"I know the place," Raiden revealed. "Follow me."
Shepard didn't like to be lead around, but he had no choice. Salem and Rios followed first, while Shepard followed behind. A Cerberus centurion airdropped from the top, but Raiden cut him down to size, even before he finished landing, his blade slashing through the shields and armor like it was paper.
"That's a nice sword, man," Rios told the ninja.
"Yes, it is," Raiden replied. "Uses a high frequency to cut through just about anything."
"Cool," the soldier said, still running in pace.
The team arrived at some kind of sky garden, stopping to look around. There were all sorts of trees and rocks around, and there was even a mini waterfall in the middle to make the place look nicer. A sudden buzzing of air drew their attention to the left side, away from the railings. A skycar rose, Kai Leng standing on the top.
"There!" Shepard shouted, pointing to the Cerberus assassin.
Within the car, the salarian councillor struggled as a Cerberus centurion held him down.
"The councillor!" Salem shouted, unleashing his rifle to shoot at the Cerberus soldiers.
The assassin put up some kind of tech shield, disabling their shots as the bullets entered its range.
Shepard ran towards the shuttle, unable to do much without a rocket launcher. "NO!"
The skycar picked up speed and zoomed off, leaving a trail of smoke to try and suffocate Shepard's team.
"Not much we can do now," Shepard told his team, trying hard not to admit defeat. "It's up to Chief's team from here."
"Got it," Chief replied, getting into a blue skycar they took from the parking garage. "I'll see what we can do, Shepard."
"What happened?" James asked as he got into the back seat.
Chief answered as he started the engines. "Shepard's group lost the councillor to the assassin. We're going to catch him."
Garrus got into the shotgun seat, breaking the window and loading up his sniper rifle.
"Think you can hit him within a moving vehicle, Garrus?" the ISA lieutenant asked.
"Who do you think you're talking to, James?" he retorted. "I'm most likely better than Shepard himself!"
Without wasting any more time, Chief boosted off, ready to catch the assassin.
"Shepard last saw the assassin near the sky garden, so we're headed there," Chief told his team. "And we're looking out for a green skycar."
"Green is a common colour!" Garrus shouted over the wind in his face as he stuck his head out. "How're we going to find the right one?"
Out of nowhere, a green skycar zoomed by, forcing Chief to hit the breaks. A man was standing on the roof as the car moved off.
"I'm guessing it's that one!" James added.
Chief stepped on the pedals, racing his car after the Cerberus skycar. A window opened, and a Cerberus soldier appeared with a rocket launcher in hand. He might have shot down Chief's car, but Garrus dispatched the rocketeer with a single shot to his head.
"Nice, Vakarian!" James voiced, giving a big whoop.
Thane sat and watched, but James decided to join in, lowering his window with the button and leaning out as well. He got out his ISA standard issue rifle and starting shooting at the exhaust pipes in the back, missing most of his shots. Chief accelerated, advancing closer to the skycar. The assassin started firing his energy blasts at their car, but Chief avoided the shots easily. Garrus and James fired away at the car, but the assassin brought up a force field, nullifying their shots. The Cerberus skycar suddenly made a sharp turn, nearly flinging off the assassin as it swerved. He raised his fist in disgust and turned his attention back to Chief's car. Chief copied the turn easily, avoiding the narrow buildings as they made their way forward.
Thane shouted over the sound of the cars. "Chief! If you can get me near, I can try and stop them!"
"Alright then!" Master Chief shouted back.
He swerved his car towards the Cerberus car, careful not to move to fast as Thane climbed out the window, onto the roof. A Cerberus trooper tried to shoot at him, but James stopped him with a few shots to the chest. Chief sped up his car a little, now right next to the Cerberus car. Taking a step back, Thane performed a running jump, landing next to the assassin. The assassin drew his blade, smiling at the fact that he was the only one with a melee weapon. He thrust forward. Thane narrowly dodged the blade as it flew past him. He spun and grabbed the assassin's elbow, taking a swing at it, releasing a groan of annoyance from the assassin as he dropped the blade. Thane quickly kicked it off the roof before he could recover it. Watching each other now, Thane and Kai Leng dropped into CQC stances, ready to fight.
Liara's group had received the call from Shepard earlier. Cerberus had the councillor, and they were getting away.
"Gah," she said. "I should have watched him more carefully."
"Don't worry about it," Mason told her. "We'll find him. Probably."
"Hearing that helps me," she told him sarcastically. "Well, it's up to Chief from here."
EDI stepped in with an idea. "I might know a way to assist the Master Chief in his rescue of the salarian councillor."
Snake looked like he didn't know what was going on. "A way to assist the Master Chief in his rescue of the salarian councillor? Sorry. Didn't know he was with you. I've worked with him a few times before. He's one tough Spartan, I have to say."
EDI just stared at him. "Yes. I can track the Master Chief on my radar. If we were to get ahead and prepare our position, we can assist in taking down the target skycar."
Liara shrugged. "It's worth a try. Let's go."
"I have just the thing to stop a car as well," Snake said as they ran.
From nowhere, he pulled out a huge rocket launcher, startling the team as they made for a forward position.
"This is an older version of rocket, but it works fine and locks on to vehicles," the veteran said. "This will do nicely."
"If you say so, man," Mason replied. "As long as it does the job."
Arriving at a sky bridge, littered with potted plants and benches, Snake positioned himself in the middle, resting his launcher on the railing. EDI moved next to him and switched on her thermal imaging system, while Mason and Liara flanked the sides. Watching the cars go by, two skycars appeared around the corner, with two people standing on the green car's roof.
"That one," EDI told the legendary hero.
"Got it in my sights," Snake smiled. "Ready to fire."
Thane bashed the assassin in the jaw with his elbow, making him take a few steps back, falling into a crouched position. He had successfully disoriented the assassin, buying him enough time to open the door of the skycar. A Cerberus trooper attempted to climb to the roof, but Thane kicked him in the face, sending flying out, and down towards the city streets.
"Councillor," the drell said. "Try and make your way up here."
Kai Leng regained his stance, ready to do battle once more. Thane turned his attention back to the Cerberus assassin just as he threw a roundhouse kick his way. Thane deflected his leg with the back of his arm, and brought his knee up to the assassin's chest. The assassin did a backflip, landing on his stomach.
Seeing the councillor, Thane helped him up. "For an assassin, councillor, he isn't a really good one. Even a terminally ill drell can take him on."
The councillor gave a wavy smile. "Right you are, drell. Now let's get out of here before he gets back up."
Sensing the movement, the assassin flipped himself back up, palms facing Thane and the councillor as they started their jump to Chief's skycar. Aiming for the drell primarily, Kai Leng fired two sets of energy blasts, smiling at his sudden attack. Thane turned just in time to see the blasts, but wasn't fast enough to dodge them, taking two to the chest as he and the councillor got to the other car.
Kai Leng returned to his main perch on the skycar. He got the drell, but the councillor had escaped him. He turned his attention back to the salarian, ready to shoot off a few more energy blasts. As he readied his hands, a loud release sound drew his attention to the front of the car, just as a rocket hit the front of the car, exploding in a huge ball of fire. With the driver most likely dead, the skycar swerved out of control, nearly throwing him off the roof as he clung on to it with his fingers. Spotting a nearby platform, Kai Leng leaped from his burning wreck and landed with a roll, turning just in time to see his car smash into the feet of a krogan statue. Someone will pay for this. And he knew just the people do find. He turned and climbed the building, making his way back up.
"Nice hit, Snake!" the mechanic told him.
Snake threw his launcher down towards the lake, not needing it anymore.
"Thanks," he responded.
With the councillor back in their hands, their work here was done for the time being. All they had to do now was to repel the Cerberus forces until the Alliance got here. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Shepard's team ran in. Shepard stopped in front of the group, panting.
"How far did you run, commander?" Mason asked, curious about their tired forms.
"Just around the corner," Shepard replied. "But there was a hotdog stand, and I couldn't just let that slide, so I bought a few."
"Snake?" a voice sounded out in the back.
Snake took a closer look at the figure, and realized it as an old friend.
"Raiden!" he shouted. "What are you doing here?"
"Saving people," the ninja replied. "How about yourself? Weren't you in retirement?"
"Well," the hero answered. "Somebody had to do something."
Shepard interrupted them, walking in between them. "Alright, now that we've found the others, let us get to Chief's location. He has the salarian councillor with him. It's time we had a talk and find out what's really going on."
"What?" Shepard said loudly. "No way."
The councillor looked perplexed. "Yes, commander. Councillor Udina has been siphoning out money. I think he's the one behind this attack, and he wants to eliminate the rest of the council to achieve something."
Shepard walked in a circle, not believing that the human councillor would actually go this far to gain power.
"Well, where is he now?" James asked, scratching his head.
The councillor looked to him. "The last I heard, he was with the other councillors, leading them to safety."
"Ooh, that might be a problem," Shepard said.
"Indeed," Raiden added. "We'll need to get to them. Fast. Before the councillor does anything to them."
Shepard took a look at Thane, who had taken two shots to his chest.
"You good to go, Thane?" he asked his old friend.
The drell touched his wounds, and looked up. "I've taken shots before. I'll be fine, Shepard."
"Alright then," the commander answered. "Try not to strain yourself too much."
"No promises, Shepard."
Wasting no more time, Shepard dashed off towards the nearest elevator, ready to get to the rest of the council. If Udina was planning something bad, he needed to get the rest of the council to safety.
"Wait, commander," Liara spoke. "Only two members, remember?"
Shepard face palmed himself. He really hated the 'two members only' restriction. He was going to have to do something about that, but it'll have to wait. He really needed to save the council.
He turned to his teammates and picked. "Salem, Rios, James! You guys are with me. The rest of you, go around the Citadel and clear out the Cerberus forces until the Alliance gets here. We need to save as many people as we can!"
"Got it!" Most of them said in unison before moving off.
Salem, Rios, and James stood at Shepard's sides, ready to take orders. Not saying anything more, Shepard turned on his heel, and made off towards the elevator. Two Helghast engineers stood in front of the elevator, turrets at ready. Salem and Rios ran off to the left side, while Shepard and James headed up the middle. Potted plants littered the grounds, which Shepard and James used as cover, shooting out whenever they got the chance. Salem and Rios seemed to get by ok, and suddenly jumped out to spring their trap. Guns blazing, they took down the engineers, and destroyed the controls for the turrets, causing them to explode. With their way clear, Shepard and James met the Army of Two at the lift, and got in.
"Which floor?" Rios asked.
"Ummm," Shepard thought. "I dunno. Just hit the highest level. It's most likely that one."
"Ok then," Rios replied, hitting the button to the top floor.
As the elevator ascended, Shepard and his team ejected their current thermal clips, preparing for a big assault as they neared their final objective.
A voice suddenly appeared on Shepard's channel as he ascended. "Shepard? Can you hear me? It's Bailey."
Shepard suddenly remembered the C-Sec commander. "Oh right! Bailey! So how's things?"
"I've been monitoring you, Shepard. If you keep going, you'll meet the council at the top floor. There are also two other elevators rising with you. They contain a bunch of Cerberus forces as well, so watch out."
"Got it," Shepard told him. "I'm Shepard, so we'll destroy them!"
Looking around, Shepard went ahead and pushed the top panel off the elevator, revealing the cables of the elevator as it moved up.
"Boost me up," he told the ISA soldier.
James rushed under the commander and readied his palms to boost the commander up. Shepard ignored his palms and instead stepped up onto his shoulders and his head to get his hands on the opening. The ISA soldier grumbled, but didn't say anything about Shepard's methods. Shepard smiled to himself. He didn't have to step on James's head, but there was always satisfaction from irritating the lieutenant. Arriving above the elevator, he was immediately fired at by Helghast soldiers on the top of the other two elevators. Shepard quickly took cover behind the chest-high platform, ready to fire back. James was next to climb out and almost lost the tip of his hair spike to a Helghast sniper. With the attention drawn to James, Shepard stood up and launched a concussive shot at the sniper. Flying back, the sniper flew into the gears of the elevator, jamming it, and stalling it where it was while Shepard's group kept going up. Just to be safe, Shepard threw down two frag grenades to the stationary elevator. Now focusing his attention to the second elevator, Shepard fired off a few bursts of bullets towards the enemy. There were three Helghast soldiers and two Cerberus centurions. Salem and Rios had made it up, and started drawing the attention of the soldiers. Shepard moved around the side, careful not to let the enemy see him, and hid among the generators. A shimmer in the corner drew his attention. Something had caught his eye, but he didn't see anything.
"Must have been my imagination," he told himself.
Out of the corner, a phantom materialized into view and lunged at Shepard, her blade drawn, and aimed for Shepard's chest. He fell back, struggling to keep her blade away from himself. His phaeston had fallen out of his reach, so he had to rely on his strength and omni-tool right now. Bringing out his omni-blade, Shepard turned his hand in a quick motion, stabbing the phantom in the upper arm, causing her to fall back, grabbing her wounded arm. As Shepard jumped for his phaeston, a reddish-pink blast emerged where the phantom stood, and all that was left was the leftover energy, and some meat. He turned to look, and there stood James, smiling from ear to ear.
"You're welcome, commander!" he told him.
Shepard didn't say it, but for once, he was thankful to have the ISA lieutenant around. Besides the free candy bars and slave labour. He quickly got up and ran to the front of the elevator, ready to ambush the Cerberus forces there. Without warning, he stood and shouted a strange war cry, startling the enemy long enough for his bullets to hit most of them. With the rapid fire of his gun, he tore through the armor of the Helghast soldiers, and damaged the shields of the centurions. The Higs fell, but the centurions retreated behind another block, slowly regenerating their shields. Shepard had enough of the enemy. Pulling out the pin of a frag grenade, Shepard tossed it behind the enemy cover, hearing a cry of alarm, before a huge explosion ripped the second elevator into bits, crashing down to the lower levels.
"Got them!" He shouted to James.
He was a little excited. Now the only obstacle that stood in his way was Councillor Donnel Udina. Shepard had never trusted that sneaky man, but he never thought he would pull a stunt like this. He was going to get answers soon. Or else. The elevator rose towards the final floor, forcing Shepard and his team to get back into the elevator, or the ceiling would crush them.
"That was a close one," James uttered.
Reaching the final level, the elevator doors opened, revealing the council, walking towards the emergency vehicles. There stood Udina, leading them towards the skycars, and at the rear, stood a face Shepard knew. He had risked his life to get this fellow here. A Vindicator rifle was pointed at his chest. Shepard couldn't believe it. Standing in front of him, Major Kaidan Alenko aimed down the sights of his weapon.
Chief shot a Helghast soldier in the face when he tried to climb over a barrier.
"They've gotten a little bolder!" Garrus shouted to him, ejecting a thermal clip.
The team had been holed up in the lobby area, right next to the elevators up. Cerberus, Helghast, and even B. showed up, appearing from all over the place. One licker even jumped out from a dumpster, but it was dispatched quickly with a well-aimed headshot by EDI. Mason and Liara created barriers for extra cover, but the enemy forces were aggressive, pushing forward with explosions and bullet fire.
Mason turned to the Chief. "Now?"
"Got for it," he signalled.
With a push of a button, explosions rang out around the enemy forces. Earlier placed explosives had collapsed the floor under the Cerberus forces and blew up the few that were above the charges. Now with a huge gaping hole in the middle path, the enemy wouldn't be coming from there. Able to focus their attention on the three other pathways now, they managed to kill more of the Cerberus attackers, forcing them to fall back a little.
"Got them now!" Snake shouted, hitting a Helghast engineer in the face with his phalanx pistol.
Mason, Liara, and EDI had focused their attention on one pathway, while Chief, Thane, and Snake focused on another. Garrus and Raiden had the last one, with Garrus covering Raiden with sniper rounds, while the cyborg went up close and personal with his sword. With the enemy pinned down for the moment, the plan would have bought more time for Shepard to extract the council. With things looking up, the team fought back with renewed strength, taking down more Cerberus attack forces with better aim and precision. Without warning, Helghast Overlord dropships swooped down and towards the huge hole in the ground. The side doors opened, revealing dozens of Helghast, armed with rifles, launchers, and sniper rifles.
"Fall back behind cover!" Chief ordered the team.
Returning from their push forward, the team hid behind their chest-high walls again, taking shots at the enemy every now and then, while staying safe behind cover. One Helghast shot out a rocket, destroying one of the barriers, forcing Garrus to relocate himself. Seeking revengeance, Garrus took aim with his rifle, and shot the face of the rocket trooper that shot at him. He took out a few more snipers before Raiden jumped up towards the dropship. Wielding his sword with both hands, Raiden slashed away with inhuman speed. Garrus watched in amazement as the dropship fell apart in a matter of seconds, as the ninja returned to the ground floor, turning from the dropship as it exploded.
"Woah," Mason voiced, witnessing the entire sequence.
Suddenly remembering he had his magnet gun, Mason pulled it out and with a quick attachment of the dropship to the metal platform, the dropship went down, smashing against the floor, damaging the vehicle. Chief took the chance to move while the ship was down, running and jumping all the way to the dropship, avoiding rocket and bullet fire on the way. Once he landed inside, Chief unleashed a move set of rifle butts and unarmed combat, taking out every single Helghast soldier in the dropship. Snake took out a few troopers as they ran for Chief's position, taking down each one with one bullet from his phalanx pistol. Garrus continued to shoot to the dropships, taking out the rocket troopers first, followed by the snipers. The battle was going well, until another dropship turned up. It had more markings on it than the other ones, so the team expected trouble. Raiden ran for the ship, ready to slice it into a million pieces like the previous one. As he readied his blade, the side doors opened, revealing the special Helghast forces. The ones with the 'S' sign on their helmets. The quickly rappelled down before Raiden attacked the dropship, cutting it into bits while they landed safely on the other side, ready to fight.
Thane had a surprised look on his face. "It's him! The colonel!"
Everyone turned to look to the last figure to land from the dropship. He wore more decorations on his armor, and his helmet looked different from all the other ones. Regaining his posture, Colonel Radec took out his pistol, and disappeared.
"Stealth camo!" Snake warned.
Looking around, Garrus could only see the other Helghast. Radec had vanished from his sights completely.
"Can't see him at all!" Garrus shouted over his sniper fire.
He had gotten one in the eye as they advanced, but there were still another six of them, all armed to the teeth. One Helghast with a Gatling gun fired towards Mason's cover, forcing EDI and Liara to hide as well. Raiden went up front, his high-frequency blade ready. The Gatling trooper fired at the ninja, but he managed to deflect most of the rounds before arriving in front of him. As he slashed, a shimmer appeared on his right, drawing his attention. Radec stood there, pistol pointed at his head. With no other choice, Raiden turned to block him, leaving him open to the other Helghast, who fired away with their automatic weapons. Dodging back, Raiden retreated to the first blockade he saw.
"They're tough," he radioed in. "Watch out."
"Alright," Chief agreed. "Regroup. We need a new plan for this."
Running back towards the group, Raiden thought to himself. This was going to be the hardest battle yet."
He had to dodge a rocket as he ran, jumping over one like a true ninja. A second one flew his way, but he cut it in half, destroying it in mid-air. Sniper rounds flew is way, but Chief stepped forward and activated his armor lock, blocking all the shots. Finally back to cover, the team checked on their supplies. They were still good with thermal clips, but it was only a matter of time before they ran out.
"Alright," Chief shouted over the constant gunfire. "The main problem is the colonel. There were six more soldiers excluding Radec. I'll go for him if you guys can cover me and take out the others."
"Leave them to us," Garrus said. "I already killed one."
Chief nodded, and with silent hand signals, the team moved out, ready to take down the Helghast attack. EDI created a decoy, taking the attention of most of the attackers. Mason used his magnet gun to rip out a huge chunk of metal from the wall, using it as a shield to move forward. The bullets were ineffective against it, but the rockets would eventually break through. A Helghast rocket trooper readied one, but Garrus sniped him in the head. Chief ran forward, ready to find Radec, but he was nowhere to be seen. The Gatling trooper fired at the Chief, but he moved quickly, and broke the gun with a roundhouse kick, startling the trooper. Before he could pull out a second gun, Chief and opened fire with his assault rifle, taking down another of the special Helghast. Suddenly, the air next to him shimmered. Chief turned just in time to push Radec's knife out of the way as it jabbed towards him.
"Nice dodge, Spartan," the colonel said with great knowledge. "But not even a Spartan has ever beaten me."
"I'll be the first," the Chief said as he went in for a fist fight.
He thrust his fists forward, but the Helghast colonel seemed to be able to dodge them all. Chief lashed out with a kick, but Radec simply back stepped and avoided it completely. He quickly pulled out his pistol and fired away at the Chief's armor, lowering his energy shielding. Surprised by the ability of his enemy, Chief stood still for a while, before he rushed the colonel again. The other Helghast soldiers focused their attention of Chief's allies, blasting away with rifle fire and rockets. Snake got one with his pistol skills, while the others protected Raiden with suppressive fire. Chief turned his body as Radec kicked out, barely missing the Chief. The two traded blows for a while, dodging and blocking eat others attacks. Now and then, hits would land on them, but they shrugged the damage off, focusing on each other. Without warning, Radec shot out electric from his wrists, disabling Chief. He couldn't seem to move. Something was keeping him down. The colonel slowly walked towards the Chief, his pistol ready to deliver the finishing blow.
"That was a good battle, Spartan," he gloated. "But even you cannot defeat me."
Before he could pull the trigger, lights and sounds blared out behind them.
"This is C-Sec! You are surrounded! Surrender immediately and you will not be harmed!"
C-Sec skycars and officers had appeared behind the Helghast attackers, rifles pointed towards them. The Helghast soldiers turned to face them and fired at the officers, taking out a bunch in the first wave of bullets. That distraction gave Chief's team time to move in and take them out. Raiden rushed them with great speed, and with the slashing of his blade, he diced four of them almost immediately. The last one pulled out a grenade, and pulled the pin, ready to take himself out along with Raiden. Unfortunately for him, Liara used a singularity, suspending him in the black hole while Raiden got out. The grenade exploded in the Helghast's hand, enveloping him in fire in the singularity as he floated there. Only Radec remained of his forces. Realizing this could end badly, he turned on his stealth camo, vanishing in an instant. With the threat gone, EDI went over and repaired the damages of Chief's armor, allowing him to move again.
"Thanks," he said. He regrouped with the rest of the team. "Alright team, good work. With this area cleared, we better head up and join the commander."
Shepard stared at his old friend. Kaidan kept the gun pointed at his chest, ready to shoot if he made any sudden moves.
"Kaidan," he said at last. "What are you doing?"
Kaidan pointed his gun forward a little more. "You're with Cerberus aren't you? I just knew it."
Shepard was dumbfounded. "What? Me? I've already told you. Many times. I'm done with them."
The major didn't look convinced.
"I even brought you here, Kaidan. I could have left you on Mars, but I brought you to the hospital."
"Not convinced, commander."
Shepard didn't know what else to say. He looked at the councillors behind the alliance major. Udina stood among them, ready to lead them to a skycar terminal.
"Shepard's the traitor here!" he shouted to the others. "He brought Cerberus here, he let them in, and he's here to kill us now!"
Now Shepard was angry. He'd always hated Udina, but now his hatred increased by four hundred times.
He pointed angrily at Udina. "I never trusted you, Udina! You've always wanted power! This is too much! I should have killed you last time!"
Shepard turned his attention back to Kaidan. "You believe him more than me?"
Kaidan stood firmer. "He was never aligned with Cerberus, so yes. I trust him more."
Salem, Rios, and James stood at Shepard's sides, guns ready and pointing at the major.
"Don't do this, Kaidan," Shepard told him. He brought up his rifle to show his point.
"I saw you with the Cerberus robot, Shepard," Kaidan responded. "Why else would you have that with you? You're with Cerberus!"
Something suddenly came to Shepard's mind. Something didn't seem right.
"Wait a minute," he told Kaidan, squinting his eyes in thought. "You're up and about. You were supposed to be down for a couple of more weeks."
Kaidan wiped sweat from his face. "Ummm… Doctor said I could go. He got shot anyways, so I made my way out to meet the councillors."
Shepard crossed his arms. "And how did you know about the councillors escaping?"
Kaidan remained silent this time.
"So," Shepard said. He stepped forward towards the major and aimed his rifle at him again. "What's the truth here?"
Knowing the game was up, Kaidan took a step back and grabbed the asari councillor.
"Hey!" James shouted.
"You weren't supposed to know, Shepard!" Kaidan shouted, gripping the councillor around the neck. He pulled out his predator pistol and put it to the councillor's head. "I was the mole in Cerberus. You were meant to bring me here, so I could let Cerberus in while I pretended to be down."
The turian councillor stepped in to help, but Udina pulled out an M-6 carnifex pistol and pulled the trigger. The councillor fell with a thud.
"Oh, now you've done it, Udina," Shepard hissed angrily.
"Don't try anything, Shepard," the human councillor added. "Or the asari councillor is next."
"You want to mess with the Shepard, Udina?" he retorted. "I'm the main hero. I've survived more missions like this than you've survived boring meetings."
Udina narrowed his eyes. "I don't like your tone, Shepard."
Shepard pointed at him. "Well, I don't like your shoes."
Udina and Kaidan took the bait, and looked to Udina's shoes. Shepard took the chance to rush Kaidan while he looked at the badly designed shoes. The major turned his attention back to the front one second too late, as Shepard tackled him, releasing asari councillor. Udina tried to shoot the commander, but James got him first with a shot to the chest with his shotgun, sending him flying backwards. Udina grunted and stayed down. Shepard and Kaidan wrestled for a bit, with Shepard hammering him in the face with his fists. Kaidan blocked with his arms, and sent Shepard flying back with a biotic throw. Shepard tried to recover, but the major was surprisingly faster. He stood in front of Shepard, with the predator pistol ready. Suddenly, Kaidan's head recoiled forward, blood spraying out from behind his head. Shepard took a look behind him. Rios stood there, his pistol smoking.
"Nice shot," Salem told his comrade.
Without warning, Kaidan unleashed a loud shot and stood up. He wrapped his fingers around Rios's neck, and pushed him to the railings.
Shepard got up and readied his rifle, but couldn't get a clear shot on Kaidan. Rios quickly pushed Kaidan towards the railings with a quick turn, and before Shepard could shoot, Salem got the major first, with a volley of rounds to the chest, stunning the Cerberus mole. Rios stared him down, then used a Sparta kick, launching the major backwards, smashing the railings, and sending both down the building.
Salem looked down. "Just like Jean Baptiste."
Rios nodded and laughed. "Yeah, just like Jean Baptiste."
Shepard approached the asari councillor and helped her up.
"See?" he told her. "If you'd believed me from the start, none of this would have happened. But you all had to dismiss my claim?"
The asari councillor sighed. "Yes. I suppose we should have believed you. We might have prevented a lot of unwanted events."
"Yep."
Shepard's omni-tool buzzed. "Shepard? Do you read me?"
It was Bailey. "Yeah," he replied. "Read you loud and clear. What's up?"
"We're cleaning up on the ground floor. Your pals below have taken care of the Cerberus forces. They're getting the councillor out right now."
"So it's true," the asari councillor voiced. "Cerberus was behind this."
Shepard paused for a while. "Wait. You mean you didn't believe me?"
"Yes, commander. I had my doubts. But you were right again."
"Told you. I'm always correct."
The asari councillor didn't reply to that statement, and instead just rolled her eyes and laughed.
"Anyways, Shepard," Bailey started again. "We'll be here. Let us know when you'll be down."
"Oh yeah. Ok. How's the Citadel? Cerberus gone?"
"Not too bad. The buildings are still standing, but most of the place is in ruins. We suspect Cerberus hightailed out of the area when your guys defeated their Helghast colonel."
Shepard didn't recall facing a Helghast colonel. "I didn't fight one."
"Yeah," Bailey replied. "Your Master Chief and his team did that."
"Oh."
Shepard was disappointed. His crew did something cool while he rescued the councillors. It wasn't very cool when he took out Udina and Kaidan. He walked over to the edge where Kaidan had fallen. He couldn't believe it. Kaidan was a good friend. He had never suspected him to be in league with Cerberus, but at least that might have been the reason why he was so sure on saying Shepard was still with Cerberus.
"Sorry about Kaidan commander," James said as he walked up to the broken railings. "Only knew him a bit, but he seemed like a good fellow."
"Yeah, he was," Shepard admitted. "Maybe I should have saved Ashley back then. I always thought Kaidan was the right choice."
"No point dwelling on the past, loco," James added in. "We've got to live on for the ones that didn't."
Shepard looked to the ISA lieutenant. "You didn't just say that did you? I didn't know you were that smart."
"I said it," he said, smiling, unaware that Shepard just insulted him. "I heard that from one of my video games."
"Of course," Shepard guessed. He turned his back to the edge. "Well, you were right with that anyway. We better get back. We've got a lot to look forward to."
Shepard walked towards the elevators, joined by the asari councillor, and his teammates. They would move on, and they would stop the reapers. Not just for everyone here, but for the ones that had fallen. They will succeed in their mission, and end the cycle once and for all.
"Right," Shepard remembered. Everyone turned to him. "The elevators are busted."
Project Eel – Citadel II