A/N: Hey! Check it out! It's a new day!
Happy wednesday!
Responding to the Reviews!:
Raiden312: ;)
Ultimate Idiot: Definately Dangerous. But he's a ghost, he won't get caught. XD
Relvain Jenafuse: Yeah, no, Chris won't be changing the history of things to come that bad, I can safely say we'll still have a Liara Broker near the end of this.
wpago: Well, in COD, everyone's a walking tank, so COD Rangers are too, so your argument is invalid.. XD I'm kidding! I'm kidding, no offense intended.
I'll continue writing as long as I've got *one* guy reading me, so you'll be good in that regard. I hope you enjoy it!
maesde: You'll be surprised at what turns up about our resident Drell. I'm almost certain of it.
Oh, and I think you'll be pleasently surprised this chapter. :)
CuHnadian: I tend to try and make the -human- characters as human as possible, so having McGraw's Dad have a moderate sendoff seemed right. (Didn't help that, that was the best I could come up with..)
FtDLulz: Thank you!
Gavoon: If you remember, he just hit a random button on his speed-dial, just so happened that his dad picked up.
And without further ado, we're off!
Chapter 10:
June thirteenth, 2180.
So, here I am, sitting in a booth in the Flux night-club. I've got my mask and 'HUD Glasses' [My pet-name for the glasses G-Man gave me. Like Sun Glasses, but with a HUD. Get it? Eh? Okay, I'll shut up now.] on, I'm sitting in a dark booth in the shadows, and I'm trying to look inconspicuous. If the club had a normal lighting, it probably wouldn't work, but for whatever reason, night-clubs tend to be darkened on purpose, so not many people noticed me; and those who did, were drunk out of their minds, and when they saw the skull, they turned tail and ran.
"Good afternoon, Mister 'Ghost'." Said an accented voice.
Okay, I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but fuck the G-Man, fuck Fate, fuck whatever god or goddess, and fuck everyone else, who is conspiring against me. I look up and to the left, and see Miranda Lawson sitting down in my booth. In my peripheral vision, I can see many a patron's eyes - male and female, actually - get attracted to her. I also see a few others get slapped away from their view, probably by jealous spouses.
"Good afternoon, miss." I nearly say 'Miss Lawson', but I catch myself. I think she noticed.
"Strahovski." She says, with a grin. Oh you have got to be kidding me! I fucking know, the G-Man set that one up! "Miranda Strahovski." She says.
I think I'll toy with her.. "Strahovski?" I ask, before shrugging. "Look more like a Lawson, to me." This catches her attention. I won't pull this too far, I'm actually one of the few who liked Miranda for her character, as opposed to the bra-shot you get if you romance her. "No matter, 'Strahovski', you can call me Ghost."
I think she's toying with me, granted I probably deserve it, because her next response is " 'Ghost'? You look more like a… Chris… To me." She grins, that almost imperceptible grin that is synonymous with her character, and I smile, though it's hidden.
"Point taken." I say. "Enough with the Holmes and Moriarty, what do you need?" I ask, my Sherlock Holmes reference doesn't go unnoticed, but she doesn't mention it.
She leans forward - her breasts pressing against the top of the table, I think she did that on purpose - and says "My.. Employers have become interested in your history. More specifically, your record with the Alliance." And now I have an actual record with the Alliance! Not just augmentations from an assumed program, but an actual record! I hope 'I' haven't pulled a Kai Leng and butchered an entire squad.. "Before we begin the… Debriefing…" Nice choice of words, I'm not mentioning the smile and the pause she introduces after the latter word. "I must ask, how did you manage to leave the Psion project? Not many soldiers leave the program, even less leave the Alliance when their tour ends." She says. Is this a test? Fuck, I need to research this program. Let's make up something good…
"I won't say much. I may loathe the program to the core, but I still have a healthy respect for what they did." Because, you know, I totally know what they did to me! "All I will say is that I got put on an assignment, and got ordered to do something I didn't agree with."
"Did you follow this order?" She asks.
"Of course I did. I'm not stupid." I say. "The aftermath was an offered honorary discharge. I was the only one in my squad who took it. They gave me enough to survive a week and left me at the Citadel." I tell her.
She nods, then leans back into the booth. "So, I assume you wonder who I work for, and what we want you to do?" She asks.
"Psions know about Cerberus, 'Strahovski', you can cut the act in that regard." And that was a total leap of faith. I think it paid off, because I see her cold stone wall blocking her emotions crumble a slight bit when I mention her company. "But yes, I would like to know what you want."
It took her a fraction of a moment to collect herself, before she spoke again. "To keep things simple, we need recruits -" I interrupt her.
"Not interested."
She pauses a moment, then says "I urge you to reconsider…"
"You have a job for me, Operative Lawson? Or are we both wasting each other's time?" I ask.
She looks at me in the eyes for a moment, before subtly sighing. "Alright, I'll get to the point." Are her fucking cheeks red!? I swear to god, I think I see a slight tinge of pink on her face! The flying fuck did I do to get her blush? "We are in need of new wet work agents. Seeing as how you are.. 'Not interested'… My employer would like to hire you for support." I think she's playing the sexy card again, because she leans forward into much the same position she'd been in a few minutes ago, the difference being that the table is pressing against her now. Okay, she all but said in Mass Effect 2, that she's used her body to get what she needs, but good god, this is going a little to far. You've no idea how much self control it's taking to not gawk... Or switch on the X-Ray mode.
"Support for what?" I ask.
"We're recruiting a man for our organization. Problem is, he's in an Alliance prison." Is this going where I think it is?
"Name?"
"Leng."
"We're breaking Kai Leng out of prison?" I inadvertently think out loud.
"You know who Kai Leng is?" She inquires.
"Yes - and, before we go any further, please lean back, that is very distracting." I point at her chest. I see the beginnings of a smirk play across her face, and I think I see.. Admiration? For lack of a better term? Maybe she's impressed I'm not staring at her tits. Not entirely true.. I've snuck a few peaks.. But come on, what kind of man wouldn't? She leans back, and I resume speaking.
"As I was saying, yes. I know of Kai Leng. I don't know who he is, but only of what he's done." And I know what he will do. I have to say, one of my favorite parts of Mass Effect 3 was when I got Commander Christopher Shepard to stab him in the stomach, I always took that Renegade interrupt. Although, he is a right asshole on insanity! "But, I must ask… I'm just a mercenary. Why in the hell are you hiring me to tag along on a high-priority, high risk mission for your organization?" I ask.
She pretends to think about this. "Working with a Cerberus agent may change your mind about accepting the recruitment." She tells me. Actually, that's exactly what I was thinking she'd say. It makes me think she's got an ulterior motive… Not to self: Don't let her get any blood samples, and run a scan for trackers/bugs/scanners when we're done.
"What's the pay?" I ask.
"Two fifty here. Seven fifty when we're done." Says the Cerberus operative.
"How important is he that you're willing to burn a million credits to bring in me?" I ask. And while we're on that subject, why in god's name did The Illusive Man try and hire me? I'm just some punk kid who stopped an assassination attempt. Did he get a visit from the G-Man? Now that I think about it, TIM and The G-Man share a crap-load of similarities… Could Cerberus be the enigmatic 'Employers' he always talks about?
"Very." And she leaves it at that.
She and I have a stare-down, and finally I say "Alright, I'm in. When do we head out?" I ask.
"One hour." She says. "We have a schedule to keep, is there anything you require to conduct the mission?" Inquires the operative.
I lean forward, and down tumbles my M4A1, I can see she's stunned that I was able to hide my rifle in such a crude fashion: Hiding it behind my back, like a child. "I've got my guns. I've got my armor." I tap my chest-plate, hidden under a non-descript black T-Shirt, worn underneath the same white hoody I'd worn at the assassination attempt. "I'm good." I tell her.
"Then let's go. It'll take us an hour to walk there." Nods Miranda, standing up and exiting the booth. Given her previous, 'attempts', I'm actually surprised at the lack of a sway in her hips.
. . .
Ah shit, I just realized I'm going to have to tell Jorra I'm heading out. That'll be fun.. I open my Omni-tool and call her.
And here we are, several hours later, in a concise ship, hurtling through the void. We just jumped through five relays, - two more than we needed to, according to Miranda - and now we're in the middle of nowhere space. I've been taking the opportunity to nap, but a few minutes ago she woke me up - gently, I found to my surprise - to debrief me on how this would be conducted.
I'm sitting up with her in the cockpit, and she begins speaking.
"So, when we arrive, we'll be assuming relatively simple roles." She explains. "I'm a private contractor, you're my guard. An ex-N7 operative under the name of 'Ex-Corporal Shepherd'." She tells me.
"What is a private contractor doing on a maximum security prison?" I ask.
"Good catch." She says. "Unfortunately, the station has been having power fluctuation problems. I've been hired to inspect it."
"And you need a private guard in a facility full of marines…" I let the sentence hang.
"You can never trust the help." Wow, that's cold. These volunteers, these soldiers are stuck out here in the middle of nowhere, trillions of trillions of miles away from their families, and you're calling them 'the help'. Speaking as an ex-Ranger, I'll say I'm offended.
A moment later, the ship rocked, signaling that we had left FTL, an instant passed and our communications lit up.
"Unidentified ship, this is the SSV Kalanasda. You are flying in restricted space. Identify yourself or prepare to be boarded." Said the voice, once Miranda patched it in.
"Alliance vessel Kalanasda, this is the Sanhoover. We were hired by the Alliance as an outside source to inspect the station's fluctuating power grid." She proceeded to unleash a long-winded verification code that I'm quite honestly amazed she remembers off the top of her head.
"One moment, Sanhoover."
Several minutes pass.
"Something's going wrong… You should keep your distance." I warn Miranda.
"That'll raise their suspicion." She retorts.
"Then don't look like you're keeping your distance!" I say.
"And how do I do that?"
"I dunno…" I grin. "Fly casual!" I wave my hand in the direction of the ships.
Apparently she gets the joke too, because she chuckles. A moment later, the voice on the other end of the radio came in, telling us where to land. Miranda thanks the person, and pilots our ship inside.
After we land, and as we make our way to the air-lock, I ask Miranda: "So, what's the ROE?"
"Fire only if fired upon." She tells me, as I hoist my rifle into my arms.
"And if Leng goes nuts?" I ask.
She stays silent, as the air-lock cycles, and we exit the ship, to be greeted by the cool, scrubbed air of a space station. It feels similar to the feeling you get when you breathe in and out of a balloon, but no where near as asphyxiating. It's not bad, I can just tell it's not 'fresh' air; granted, neither is the Citadel's.
"Doctor Freeman. Corporal Shepherd." I nearly break my damn neck when I hear the voice of the guy greet us. It's not the G-Man, but good fucking god the way he said the names nearly made me shit myself. And don't get me started on the names themselves! I'll say it again, fuck the G-Man! Because I fucking know he had something to do with this!
"Sir." Says Miranda.
"Is there anything we can do for you, doctor? Do you need a guide for the facility?" Asks the man.
"No thank you, Trent." Said Miranda. I won't ask how she knew his name. "I memorized the routes yesterday." She told him.
"I understand.. If you need anything, just find a terminal. The station's VI will gladly help you." Said 'Trent'. Miranda nodded, and beckoned that I follow her.
"This is going a little… Too perfectly." I say, once we're out of earshot.
"And you're worried?" She asks, as we move down a hallway.
"When battle plans fall apart is when I feel home. When battle plans come together is when I get apprehensive." I tell her. "In other words, prepare for unforeseen consequences." I can almost see the scowl that's surely formed on the G-Man's face as I say that. That's as close as I can get to saying 'Fuck you!' without looking bat-shit.
"I see what you mean, but this is a black-op. If the cover is working, that's good." She tells me.
"Still don't like it." I tell her.
The next quarter of an hour is spent in near silence, as we traverse the station. Eventually we find ourselves next to an elevator. When we enter, I see Miranda pop open the escape hatch on top of it, and toss some sort of device outside, before closing it again.
"What was that?" Though I think I know, the symbol on the device told me as much; I'm pretty surprised they got it so small, though.
"Insurance." She says.
"I saw the radiation symbol, do you really think nuking a base full of Alliance soldiers would benefit Humanity?" I ask.
"In times of great stress, many, many differences are dropped, if only temporarily. You need only look at the September Eleventh attacks, World War 3, and the First Contact war for evidence of that." She tells me.
"Wise.. But stupid in the same sense. Instill brotherhood by killing our own?" I criticize.
"The ends justify the means." She tells me.
I sigh. "I'd always thought Cerberus was humanity's piked shield." I say, looking forward. "The heroes we need, but not the ones we want. The ones who work in the dark to serve the light... Our dark knights in bloodied armor." I tell her, keeping my gaze forward, I want not to see the look on her face, but hear the falter in her voice, provided my words are having an effect. "But your statement, right there, tells me you guys are just a xenophobic group of terrorists, who had - and most likely still have - government funding and equipment." I continue. "It makes me sad.. To be honest. Such noble intentions, but the execution ruins the idea." I finish.
I can almost hear her voice quiver in her response.. Almost. "Cerberus works to further, protect, and preserve humanity. The ends always justify the means." She tells me.
"So slaughtering thousands of innocent marines and engineers in nuclear fire is justifiable? Is necessary for the advancement of humanity?" I ask. "Breaking out a psychopathic, walking friendly-fire incident is what we need?" I add.
"Ghost, you were hired to help me break out a… Kai Leng. Not to criticize my organization." She tells me.
I win.
The rest of the elevator ride is spent in silence, with the tension so thick I could probably have cut it with my K-Bar.
"So how are we doing this? Getting him out?" I ask, as the elevator reaches the floor our objective rested at.
In response, she pulls out some device, similar in appearance to a C-4 detonator. She then reaches up and activates her communicator.
"Director Trent? We're working with the power right now, be advised, there may be a few blackouts as we test the system." She says.
"Not bad." I say, nodding.
"Got it doctor Freeman. We'll keep a look out." Came Trent's voice.
A few minutes later, the elevator came to a halt, and when it opened, Miranda pressed the detonator. The elevator, the hallway in front of us, and everything around us that ran on electricity just died. Save for my HUD Glasses, which I found kind of interesting.
"Leng's cell is at the very back. It'll be running on a separate power source." Says Miranda, as she leaves the elevator. I shoulder my rifle and follow her.
We walk through the station for several minutes, in complete silence. Finally, I grab her shoulder and stop our advance.
"What?" Asked Miranda, a little harshly.
"We haven't run into anyone." I tell her.
"And?"
"Anyone." I state. After a moment's silence, I elaborate. "And Kai Leng is supposed to be the most dangerous guy here? I know I trust technology… But not that much. We're walking into a trap." I tell her.
"I've gone over the troop patrols of the entire floor, we are not walking into -" I tone her out, switching my glasses through their vision modes. When I hit X-Ray mode, I act instantaneously, the moment I see a skeleton drop to the ground and shoulder a rifle at us. I shove a surprised Miranda to the ground, and eliminate the hostile with a quick burst of gunfire.
"Contact, front." I say aloud, before my rifle begins to vent. "Clear." I add, before switching to alert-carry.
"But… He shouldn't have…" Stuttered Miranda, as she slowly stood up. Fuck, she really loses it when she makes a mistake, doesn't she? However, as soon as it appears, it leaves. "Come on, there's bound to be more, and I know they heard those shots." With that, we're sprinting down the corridors and the cells. I hear the prisoners within chastising us, asking for Miranda's 'services', and other such remarks.
We hit Kai Leng's cell, but Miranda doesn't open it yet.
"Kai Leng?" She asks, peering inside. I do the same, I see his skeleton huddled up in the corner.
"I take it you're the one the Illusive Man sent?" Came his threateningly light voice.
"Yes, we're here to free you." Miranda opened her Omni-tool and began working.
"Why the hell did he send you?" Asked the soon-to-be assassin.
"I'm The Illusive Man's -" She was interrupted.
"Not you, you!" The skeleton looks to me.
"Hired." I say, simply.
"Fuck me, he brought in a kid? A green kid?" Said Leng, as he stood up.
"I've seen shit you wouldn't believe, dude." I tell him.
"Well, dude, tell me, dude, have you seen the blood of your brothers in arms, covering yours, dude?" The cell opens, and he dashes forward, and in an instant, he's in front of me, and the barrel of my M4 is pressed under his chin.
"Slow reflexes." He tells me. Now that he's in the IR Flashlight range of my HUD Glasses, I can tell he looks a lot different from how he did in Mass Effect 3; to keep it simple, he looks human, not like a robot. Despite this, I'm pretty sure he could still kick my ass.
"Slow? It took me a half second to get this gun stuck to your head." I tell him.
"Your gear is new, not used, you're green. Your mask tells me that you're just some kid trying to get with the big leagues. If you weren't a Psion - which I doubt - I would have killed you by now." He ignores my statement. "Also, I'd watch your back." A second later, I feel a knife - my knife - pressing against one of the unarmored portions of my back. "It took me an instant to take this thing. I'd recommend strapping it to the small of your back, or your chest, instead of your boot." He said, taking a step back and handing me my knife. He accepts a pistol from Miranda, who says "Let's go, the guards are sure to have noticed that the dead haven't reported in." Leng nods, and we all surge back the way we came.
All of a sudden, the power screams back on, and alarms shriek all across the station.
"Damn it! I was told this machine would work for fifteen minutes!" Miranda cursed.
"Might want to do more thorough tests, miss Strahovski." I tell her, as I hear the slamming of boots into the ground. A second later, several consecutive gunshots occur, and I feel bullets soar past my neck. Jerking into a kneeling position, I swing my gun to the shooter, to see Kai Leng aiming past me, I look to where his gun was pointing, and see several dead marines.
"The fuck man? We're on the same side!" I tell him. In response, he just smiles. In hindsight, I think he's related to the Joker. Heath Ledger's Joker, because that smile is ten different kinds of scary.
"Let's move!" Ordered Miranda, as we surged towards a stairwell. Oh joy, we're going to ascend an entire space station; Oh well, Shepard could do it on Purgatory… So we can do it, right?
Fuck me I hate stairs! Fuck stairs, fuck the guy who invented stairs, and fuck the guy who invented profanity, for not inventing something worse than fuck!
We were booking it up these damn things, and it still took us twenty minutes to ascend to the hanger. We ended up getting delayed for a good two or three minutes when we had to hide from several squads of marines as they stormed past us. Kai Leng almost fucking revealed us when he 'accidentally' shoved me forward into the railing, once they'd passed. Now we just broke into the hanger bay, and almost immediately we come under fire.
Miranda, Kai Leng and I all leap to cover, and Leng is the first to lean out and fire.
"We need to move forward!" I shout. "We can't afford to get pinned down!" I add, leaning over the cover to burst-fire at some marines, though I am forced to quickly jump back behind cover when my shields flare.
"Seconded!" Said Miranda, as she blindly fired her pistol.
I'm really pushing the limits of my shields, with each time I lean out to fire, I'm buffeted by wave after wave of precise gunfire; and this isn't like the video games kiddies, the soldiers aren't horribly inaccurate, and my health doesn't recharge after five seconds of inactivity. These guys are trained proffessionals, and I'm just a regular human being, this is accentuated by the stinging numbness I suddenly feel in my left leg.
"Tagged!" I declare, checking my leg. The wound was shallow, but bleeding. And a moment later, I felt a cooling sensation spread across it, I look up and see that Miranda had deployed medigel, which spread over and sealed my wound shut.
Wait a minute..
That's all I see.
Where the fuck did Kai Leng go!?
Apparently Miranda sees my sudden realization, and when she turns around and sees [Or, doesn't, if you think about it] the same empty space I do, I hear her curse again.
"Where is Leng!?" She demands.
"No clue! But if he gets either one of us injured, I'm killing him!" I tell her, and to my complete and utter surprise, she fucking nods! Have I drawn out a rebel?
"You're right. Main priority should be extraction. It's his fault if he can't get out with us. Give me covering fire so I can get to the ship." She tells me, I nod.
She counts down from three, and when she hits one, I jump out from cover and begin firing in the general direction of my enemies, who cease firing to get out of my line of sight. Miranda declares she's moving, and as she's half-way to the ship, I hear a massive biotic explosion. I look to my right, and see a cackling Kai Leng sprinting away from a pool of corpses.
Wait a second, he's not heading for the soldiers, is he - - he's running for Miranda! The fuck!?
Without thinking, I vault over cover, and sprint over to him. It takes nearly all of my stamina, but I manage to put my shoulder down, and just as he reaches out to close his hand around Miranda's throat, I slam into him and hurtle us both away from her. I hear Miranda continue to the ship, and some sort of crack-fizz emanate around me, and a second later I feel his fist hit my face. I stumble backwards as he begins taunting me.
"I'll be damned! Nullification implants! You are a Psion!" Screamed Leng, before he sprinted forward and planted a knee in my face. Amazingly my glasses don't break, but I think my nose did after I slam into the ground. "But did you get the biotic implants? Or did you not stick around?!" He demanded, as I slowly stood up, my rifle was several feet away, I might make it if I move fast enough.
When I looked over to him, he shot forth with a thunderous boom, like a cannon blast. But after a second, he slowed down to a crawl. Everything around me, slowed down to impossible levels. The fuck is going on?
Something appears on my HUD, it says 'Psionic Suppression Field Active.'. The fuck is a Psionic suppression field? A second later my hand feels as if it had liquid fire poured onto it, I scream and flail the hand out, a light-bending energy ball - similar in shape to Warp - shoots forth and strikes Kai Leng. Time speeds up to normal, and Leng slams into the ground. Instead of a gasp of pain, I hear him fucking laugh!
"I'll be damned, the Tall Guy was fucking thorough!" This sounds alarms in my mind, but I push away the feeling as he leaps to his feet and sprints forward. I feel something fly into my hand, and by the feel of it, I'm holding my knife. I assume a combat stance, and only now realize what the hell I'm doing. I'm fighting fucking Kai Leng, and I highly doubt we'll both stand at the end of this. It's at this point when something crosses my mind: Why the hell is Leng doing this? Seriously, I don't remember hearing anything about him going batshit during his recruitment, in any of the Mass Effect games! So why in the hell is he going nuts here?!
Before I can even begin to contemplate what brought forth his sudden insanity, I see him appear in front of me. Time slows again as I see his fist rocket towards my face. When I slap his arm out of the way with the back of my left hand, time speeds up to normal, only to slow when I see his right hand rush to replace his left. Again, I deflect it, and move in with a left uppercut, and as time rushes forward to meet itself, he meets my left arm with his fucking head. Let me restate that, instead of deflecting, dodging, or doing anything else, he fucking headbutts my fist! I feel the bones in the fist crack, but somehow the metal in the armor remains in the same shape. How in the hell did the Salarian make such kickass armor, but such a horrible helmet? I have no time to contemplate this, as his fist slams into the side of my head.
I swear, I think I'm stuck in some bad kung-fu flick. Slow-motion when I need it, and regular speed when it looks good? Somewhere, some deity is laughing at me. Anyways, I stagger back, wiping the blood from my nose with my sleeve - turning the white fabric bright red in the process - and assume another combat stance. Again, Leng laughs.
"What the fuck, dude, you are just fucking stubborn!" He shouted. "The Tall Guy warned me about this!" There he is again with - - Fuck!
Suddenly he's in front of me, and he grabs onto my chest-plate, only to yank me forward and slam his forehead into mine. I swear I think my skull cracked, because my head's fucking pounding right now! Why the hell did I pick a fight with an ex-special forces guy? Want to know the worst part? I think he's toying with me. It's like having Goku fight Hercule, in Dragon Ball, you just know one's messing with the other.
He knees me in the chest, and I hit the ground. Before I can recover, his foot is on my throat.
"I thought you were a Psion! Christopher McGraw! Did He lie to me!? Were His words false!?" He asked. In response, I sank my knife into his Achilles tendon. This had an immediate effect, the foot just went limp, and before he could slam the leg down onto my throat, I brought my burning fist into his groin.
. . .
To no effect.
It was like that moment in Sherlock Holmes, where Robert Downey Junior stares at the guy - who was obviously on some sort of performance enhancer - with his small little hammer, and the guy stares at RDJ with his giant frigging mallet. Then RDJ throws his hammer at the guy, and the guy just takes it, and proceeds to slam into RDJ. It was just that slight, comical pause that followed my failed attempt at destroying his manhood. He chuckled lightly, before the battle resumed. His fist slammed down onto my face, and my foot pressed up against his chest. I pushed and sent him stumbling off of me, the knife fell out of his leg, and landed in between the two of us.
Now, in the movies, there's the mad scramble for the knife, and the hero always manages to get it and stab the villain as the latter falls on the former. But this is real life, and Leng is on his feet. He's the one who's gone through N7 training, he won't have that split-second gasping pause before he realizes what he needs to do. He immediately stumbles forward on his one bum leg and one good leg, and snatches the knife up from the ground. I try to squirm away, but when I see the knife soaring for my face, I jerk to the right, and feel it enter my left shoulder. A cold, but burning, searing pain shoots through my body as I feel the steel enter it. I try to push through it, but fail as it slowly becomes too much.
"Ghost! The ship's operational! Get aboard!" I hear Miranda call. I think a Hollywood Producer must be having a wet dream right now, because this is reminding me of every suspense movie I've ever seen… Ever.
Once again, Leng's knee is pressed against my throat. I try and claw him off, but am unable. Slowly, my vision goes black as I feel the knee press up against my spinal cord. But as if some frigging god was watching over me, a shrouded figure slams into Kai Leng's face. Leng careens off of me, and my lungs automatically inhale breath-fills of oxygen. My vision is dark, and blurry, but I'm able to make out Leng fighting some other figure. He's a short, wiry person, with a hood drawn over his head, and dark clothes covering the rest of his body. I can't tell who this guy is, but seeing him fight Leng like this seriously reminds me of Thane vs. Kai Leng in Mass Effect 3. But if I remember correctly, Thane dies then. Granted, Leng wasn't fatigued, injured and bruised in that fight, but still, my point stands. Whoever this guy is, he's helping me, so I've got to help him.
Now, in the Hollywood movies, and in Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 2, the hero reaches for the knife embedded in his body. Well, this is real life, last time I threw a knife I was horrible, and I have yet to use my Desert Eagle. So I reach down for the pistol, and to my great relief, I find it in it's holster. I pull out the weapon, and chamber a round with one hand.
"Ghost! Where are you!? You've got one minute before I leave without you!" Shouted Miranda. Jeeze, trying to rush me?
I lift the pistol and aim at the two fighting figures. My aim is horrible, as I've no doubt lost a shit-load of blood, and am pretty damn tired. Regardless, I inhale deeply, and exhale just as deeply. Once more in, and again out. In again, then I move as fast as I can. I aim the gun at Leng, and pull the trigger. As the bullet flies out of the gun, time seems to slow down. I don't know if it's the same thing that slowed down time during my fight with Kai Leng, or if it's just nerves, but the effect is the same: The moment seems to take forever.
For one, horrible moment, I think I missed, but then I see Leng's head snap back, and realized that I'd hit my mark, in spades. The shrouded figure catches Leng, and lays him on the ground. He says something, but I can't tell what. The figure then rushes over to me. He's wearing a scarf over his face too, so I can't tell what gender or species this guy is. The way he's shaped though, I can tell he's either Human, Batarian, Asari or Drell. He remains silent as he picks me up and hoists me into a fireman's carry. He dashes over to Miranda's ship - kicking my rifle onto my back, like a frigging circus-guy as he runs - and leaps inside, just as the air-lock closes.
As I see the suddenly eager ground come to say hello to my face, only one thought runs through my mind.
I just fucking killed… Kai Leng. Then it was all dark.
A/N:
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