"Move!"

Kaidan ushered the Council out of the elevator, while keeping his gun pointed at the ceiling, adrenaline and biotic power surging through his veins, sharpening his senses.

Using his biotics to fight again had felt strange at first. The new implant he'd gotten after his old L2 was nearly destroyed, made it a lot easier to access his power.

There was no strain no impending headache waiting in the back of his head, on the contrary, the dark energy flowed so easily and effortlessly through his body that he had to keep a tight grip on it. It felt like a storm raging inside of him, waiting to be unleashed upon his enemies. It felt...incredible, exhilarating to say the least. Was this how Jane felt every time she used her powers? He wondered briefly when he retreated backwards out of the elevator.

There was no sound coming from above, but he wasn't so sure that he had eliminated the one who'd jumped atop the elevator and a very unreasonable part of him almost wished that he hadn't, so he could use his powers again. He shut down this thought immediately, this was no time to get reckless.

Once he was out in the hallway he'd turned and hurried to the door where his charges waited for him. Kaidan opened the door and quickly stepped out into the dazzling sunlight, his biotics flaring up into an almost impenetrable barrier around him.

The roof was empty but the c-sec shuttle he had counted on to escape with, was burning brightly not too far ahead.

Kaidan swore loudly running a hand through his hair as he turned away from the wrecked shuttle. His mind was already racing to find another solution. There were only two possibilities left. Either C-sec send another shuttle to pick them up, but that meant he had to hold the door to the roof all by himself to buy C-sec enough time to get here. Or they could head back into the elevator and try to find another way out of the building.

The building

"Back to the-" he started to yell, pointing toward the entrance when a loud metallic clang echoed out of the corridor beyond and his blood went cold at the sound of squeaking metal. He'd run out of time it seemed, Cerberus was already breaking through. There was no way out.

Kaidan cursed, already running past the frightened members of the council to the still open door shutting it quickly. That moment he heard something heavy crash to the ground beyond the door.

"Stay behind me!" he ordered, stepping away from the door, his gun at the ready. Well, if Cerberus wanted the Council dead, they had to get past him first. And he sure as hell wouldn't make it easy for them.

There were faint noises, probably voices coming from the other side of the door and he tensed pointing his gun at the crack where it would open, he released his restraint on his biotics and they flared up brightly.

The door opened and three figures came out into the light, their guns already trained at him, but he didn't even realize it. His gaze was frozen on only one of them. He'd immediately recognized the black armor with the red stripe and the N7 emblem even before he felt the familiar buzz of her biotics against his.

"Jesus, Ja-..Shepard!" Kaidan exclaimed lowering his gun.

"Kaidan!" she replied mirroring his actions.

"What are you-" Kaidan started but stopped frowning at James who'd just smashed the control panel of the door behind him.

"What's going on here?" he asked suspiciously, half raising his weapon again.

"Are you blind?" came Councilor Udina's voice from behind him. "Shepard's with Cerberus, she came to kill us!"

Kaidan looked at the Councilor and back to Jane, uncertain what to make of this situation. Was she really with Cerberus? Was she responsible for the attack? Had he made a mistake? No. He wouldn't believe it.

"Kaidan." she said, stepping closer to him. "There are Cerberus troops right behind us and an Assassin send by the Illusive Man, Kai Leng. Udina-."

"Don't listen to her, she has already admitted to working with Cerberus, for all we know she's still with them!" Udina broke in.

Jane shot him an annoyed glare, but otherwise ignored the raging Councilor. "Udina is behind the attack, the Salarian Councilor confirmed-."

"She's lying! She has no prove, she never has!" Udina cut her off again.

Kaidan saw a flashing of light in Jane's eyes before she turned on the Councilor. "I swear if you so much as whisper another word, you're dead!" she hissed, training her gun right at the Councilor's forehead.

"You see! She has completely lost her mind!" Udina exclaimed stumbling back while pointing a trembling finger at Jane.

"What are you talking about? Put the gun away, Shepard." Kaidan said, stepping between her and the Councilor, raising a hand. This wasn't like her, he'd never seen her losing her temper like this. What was going on here?

"Trust me, Kaidan. That bastard has it coming!" Jane snarled.

"That Bastard, is one of the last leaders of earth. And this is not like you, Shepard!" Kaidan also raised his gun, noticing that James and Garrus did the same. Wonderful, the situation just went south…

"We've mistrusted Shepard before and it didn't do us any good." The Asari Councilor chimed in, stepping up beside him.

"Kaidan." Something in Jane's voice caught his immediate attention "I'm having a really bad day, I can't..." His eyes found hers, bright blue on brilliant azure, and for a long moment he just lost himself in their depths. "Trust me." she said in a very quiet voice and the pain that was mirrored in her beautiful eyes, cut him like a knife to the core and his mind raced back to the events on Horizon.

His eyes roamed over her face taking in every little detail and expression, she had looked exactly like this that day. The same pain, the same sadness and the same pleading tone in her voice. He couldn't do this, not again. Whatever this was, he wouldn't hurt her again.

"I do."

Kaidan lowered his gun and straightened.

"I should have known that you would crawl back into her lap like the good little dog you are, Alenko." Udina snarled. "But it's too late for you anyway." something in the Councilor's voice struck at Kaidan.

"Shepard's been right! You betrayed-!" the Asari exclaimed enraged when a thunderous boom echoed through the air and Kaidan was thrown backwards by a sudden shockwave.

Something hit his hard against his chest and the air was pushed painfully out of his lungs when he connected with the stone floor, luckily his barrier held of the worst of the impact.

Kaidan took a moment to regain his senses, the air was thick with dust and smoke which made it hard to breath, and there was a loud ringing in his ears caused by the explosion. After a moment he realised that he was holding something in his arms and glanced down to see Jane laying on top of him. Both of his arms were wrapped protectively around her, he must have caught her instinctively when she was flung against him.

Kaidan sat up slowly, but Jane didn't move and there was no sign of her biotics.

Her barrier must have failed.

Jane lay limply in his arms, her eyes closed and there was blood trailing down on one side of her face coming from a long cut on her forehead. Kaidan felt panic welling up inside of him until he noticed the slow but steady movement of her armoured chest. She was breathing. He thought relieved.The impact must have knocked her out.

Kaidan looked around, blinking when the dust and smoke bit into his eyes. James lay to his right a few paces away, sprawled on his back. He coughed, rolling slowly onto his side with a groan.

Garrus on his left wasn't moving but he heard Tevos and Valern coughing and moaning behind him. He didn't even look for Udina, whatever had happened to the man, he really didn't care right now.

Kaidan was just about to turn his attention back to Jane when he heard laughter coming from the direction of the door, or what once was a door. The explosion had blown half of the it, including the door into dust and debris. Disconnected cables hung down into the wide space of the hole, occasionally sending off little sparks.

Kaidan saw a man in black armour with the Cerberus crest engraved on his chest, standing right in the middle of the rubble. He had long black hair that was pulled back from his face in a ponytail, some kind of mask covered his eyes and half of his face and there was a long bloody cut across his left cheek.

"How cute." the strange man said with a mirthless smirk on his face as he casually walked toward Kaidan. "The lovebirds finally rejoined."

"Who are you?" Kaidan asked cautiously, slowly lowering Jane to the ground without taking his eyes of the man. Something about him made Kaidan very nervous.

"Oh, how rude of me." the stranger smiled coldly. "My name is Leng, Kai Leng."

That name.

"You're the hitman send by Cerberus to eliminate the Council." Kaidan concluded, slowly getting to his feet. The strange gleaming eyes of the man's mask were fixed on his every move like a predator watching his prey.

Leng chuckled. "Oh yeah, but it seems I get the chance to finally get rid of Shepard as well, lucky day." his smile turned cruel, and Kaidan felt his anger rising.

Like hell he would.

"Not on my watch!" Kaidan challenged, stepping in front of Leng. His biotics flaring to live.

"Kaidan, watch out." Vega warned in a strained voice. "He's quick."

Leng laughed. "This will be even more fun than I thought."

….

"Commander? Wake up."

Dimly she heard an explosion in the distance, her ears were still ringing, and Jame's voice sounded muffled as if it came from far away. Jane blinked her eyes open, her vision slowly focusing on Vega's features, his face was covered in smears of dust and blood and he looked worried. She groaned, her head hurt like it was going to split in half and she tasted the coppery tang of blood on her tongue.

"What happened?"

"A bomb set by Cerberus went off near the door to the Praesidium. We've been caught by the explosion. Are you alright?"

Jane could still barely make out the words he said and she felt something wet and sticky on her face as well. She touched her forehead with a trembling hand to find her fingertips red with blood. Great.

"What about Garrus? The Council? Kaidan?"

She started to rise but James held her down. There was another tremor running through the ground beneath her and she frowned. Where they under attack?

"You shouldn't move. I'm no medic but that cut looks bad and I think you have a concussion. The others are ok, except Udina, he got thrown off the building." he hesitated. "Leng is here, fighting with-"

"Leng!" She exclaimed, pushing his hand from her shoulder, trying to get up again.

"You really shouldn't..."

James rolled his eyes and got up with a grunt and a hand pressed to his side. He reached out to steady her when a wave of nausea washed over her and her legs threatened to gave way under her. Jane shook her head in annoyance, trying to get rid of the ringing in her ears, the movement, of course, only made her headache worse.

"Where is he?" she half growled.

James nodded to the side. "Kaidan's giving him a hard time. C-sec is on-"

"Kaidan?" she pushed James to the side, or tried to at least, when another tremor went through the ground, and she sank to her knees.

"I told you-"

"Why didn't you stop him!" she raged at James, staggering to her feet again.

"He wouldn't let me, he's as stubborn as you, you know." James countered, reaching for her, but she pushed his hands away and stumbled forward.

A thick cloud of dust and smoke hung in the air above the plateau and her unsteady vision made it even harder to make out any details, but she saw movement and the occassionally flicker of blue light.

Jane staggered forward when a sudden breeze cleared up the worst of the smoke and she finally saw Kaidan standing in the middle of the rubble that once was a wall. The steady deep blue corona around him vibrated with sizzling energy as he and Leng both circled each other like two lions waiting for the other to make the next move.

Kaidan wasn't as light or flexible as Leng or Thane when he fought. He was vigorous and steady, his defence nearly flawless and his movements smooth and controlled as he fended of Leng's attacks one after another almost effortlessly. Leng's face was a mask of concentration as he tried to find a weak spot in Kaidan's impregnable barrier.

Kaidan had definitely changed in the past three years, Jane realised with a pinch of sadness. He certainly no longer reminded her of the shy young Lieutenant he'd been on the SR-1. Liara was right when she'd pointed out how capable he'd become. He'd grown stronger and more confident in his abilities. Sometimes it felt like everyone she knew had changed greatly while she still was the same person.

I've missed so much.

"He's really good." James said in open appreciation.

"For a human biotic he's very powerful." came another voice from behind. Tevon the Asari Councilor limped up to join them. "I wonder why he isn't attacking more often."

"He's a Sentinel." James explained. "As far as I know they are trained to defend rather than attack, and I think he's waiting for C-sec to arrive."

"I see." the Asari replied thoughtful.

"He's a cautious one, not like some other people…huh Lola?"

Jane didn't listen to their conversation, her eyes were fixed on Kaidan and Leng as flickers of old and long buried memories swirled to the surface of her mind when she saw Kaidan stumble over a large rock, barely avoiding Leng's ridiculous Katana.

"Shit!" James exclaimed.

A scream and a hand stretched out in a silent plea for mercy. A small body curled up in a sea of blood on the ground. The sickening sound of breaking bones and the sliding of sword through soft flesh. And over all hovered the cruel smile of the man she hated with every fibre of her being.

The very man that now fought against the one person she loved more than anything, the one person she couldn't bare to lose. She wouldn't and couldn't allow the events of the past to repeat themselves. She would end this once and for all.

You won't take Kaidan away from me.

This time she didn't dip into her remaining power as she used to, she wrenched at it with everything she had left. And her dark energy flared to life like a roaring beast ready to attack, fueled by her anger, her rage, her greatest fear and the overwhelming need for revenge.

She'd never done this consciously and she had been warned by her teachers never to attempt it. But seeing Kaidan stumbling and falling over the rocky ground while Leng slowly advanced on him with his drawn sword made her step over the invisible boundaries of her power and unleashed her full potential.

"What the-" James staggered back from her with a vicious curse, as she felt the energy soaring up, enveloping her with a blinding light. The blue flames of her biotics no longer danced around her as usual, they thundered like a storm.

"Leng!" she thundered with a voice that matched the storm around her.

Leng turned towards her and Kaidan's mouth fell open when he spotted her.

The ever present smirk on Leng's face collapsed instantly when he saw her coming and he staggered away from Kaidan toward the edge of the pateu.

"You." she growled, but before she could do anything else, he'd glanced over the edge and with a triumphant grin he let himself fall.

Jane darted over to the edge and looked down. Leng had landed safely on a Cerberus shuttle that retreated rapidly into the ever present traffic on the Citadel.

"Come back!" she yelled. "You lousy son of-" she screamed and lifted a heavy bolder of the ground with her biotics, throwing it after the shuttle in frustration. The bolder sailed in a wide arc and vanished in a fountain of water when it plummeted into the water of the Citadel stream.

Jane shut her eyes, suddenly feeling very dizzy and her biotics snuffed out like a candle in the wind. She swayed on her feet and would have fallen over the edge if someone hadn't grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back.

Her body wouldn't respond and she sagged even further when she felt her legs being swept out under her and she was lifted into the air by a pair of strong arms.

Kaidan..

Her body hung limply in Kaidan's arms as he carried her back to the others.

"What happened?" she heard Kaidan's worried voice.

"She did something very stupid." she heard Tevon's sharp reply and felt a cold hand on her forehead. "I didn't even know humans were capable of this yet."

"I've seen her do this before." James voice chimed in.

"What? When?" Kaidan asked.

"Mars. After you...she broke my ribs when I tried to stop her."

"What?!"

"Nothing serious really."

"Then you've been lucky." Tevon muttered, her cool hands drifting over Jane's face. "She'll be alright. Make sure she eats and rests."

"I will." Kaidan replied with a sigh of relieve.

"Good luck with that." James muttered.

Jane finally had enough of all that fuss over her, she tried to open her eyes and move her arms but her body felt like lead and wouldn't respond. This was so annoying, she tried to speak but her attempted "I'm fine." came out as a barely audible mumble jumble.

"Let's get out of here." Kaidan ordered. "The sooner the better."

"Shall I carry her?" James asked and she felt Kaidan's arms tighten almost possessively around her as he shifted her into a more comfortable position against his broad armoured chest.

"I take that as a no." James voice sounded amused. "I'll go help Garrus."

I hope I didn't disappoint anyone with this chapter.

Thanks for reading it and sticking with the story so far. I really appreciate it.