A/N One of the things I was really looking forward to was the Kai Leng show down. I've modified it slightly, but I hope it's good.
Also, I'm literally going to repost Chapters 9 and 10 in the next couple of minutes, there's some minute changes - nothing too major. If your confused about the very ending of this chapter then check out a change to the beginning of 10, it'll explain it.
Chapter 12 – Cleaning House, Chronos Station Part 3
The team moved forwards quietly, careful not to make any sounds. The cavernous room was sure to echo with every noise. There were some occasional groaning noises coming from the corpse of the Reaper, the immense chains holding up the construct swaying as the station took fire from the Alliance warships.
They began moving up a flight of stairs in front of them, Shepard tracking his rifle from left to right. As he moved up the first few steps a slight buzzing sound was audible, quickly becoming louder. He ascended the stairs, ending up on a mesh catwalk hanging over empty space. The floor of the chamber was to deep to be visible, more sections of the Reapers corpse were below them though. Then he saw movement, through the grated mesh that made up the floor.
"More Cerberus forces en route."
On EDI's call a phantom jumped into view on his right, hurtling over the barriers. Now that the squad numbered six again he didn't have to relay orders, the brute force of the group was amazing. As the phantom rushed towards John it took heavy fire, a pair of EMPs and two concussive rounds slamming straight into the specialists chest. The body hit the floor immediately, Ashley sneering at the corpse.
"Try jumping now!"
John laughed at the comment, meanwhile taking cover behind a support strut on the right of the catwalk. Miranda was taking cover to his left.
"There's a nemesis dropping down onto the catwalk above."
He leaned out of cover to toss a grenade along the walkway, the explosion hurling two assault troopers off their feet and over the edge of the chasm. Then he turned to Miranda with a grin on his face. "I do like it when you say catwalk Miri."
"Not this again," She looked at him incredulously, EDI moving past to launch an EMP at the nemesis. "I thought we established that this immaturity would get you killed."
"When did that happen?" He moved out of cover, shooting and killing the nemesis with a couple of headshots.
"The Collector Base," She shook her head, slightly red at the chuckles from the other squad members. "Stop it John, seriously."
The team moved around a corner to the right, passing a destroyed shield pylon. The catwalk extended forwards before another right hand turn, various support struts offering more cover..
"She's got you whipped comman..." Ashley stopped talking as another phantom jumped up from their left. Again a pair of overloads struck home immediately, followed up by two shotgun blasts from Tali who had moved to the front of the group. The body fell back off the walkway, falling over the barrier to the left.
Two more assault troopers appeared, again on the left. The troopers realised that the phantom was dead, clearly expecting close combat support, and immediately beating a hasty retreat whilst firing from the hip. It couldn't save them however, a singularity from Liara hoisting them up before Miranda detonated it with a well placed warp.
The team followed the walkway around to the right, now having moved in a U shape. Ahead of them was a long ladder, descending from another similar catwalk about fifteen metres above. Shepard saw movement up the top, squinting to make out what their opposition was. He soon discovered who faced them, yet another phantom dropping down the ladder, a nemesis positioning herself at the top of the ladder to cover.
"Ash, stay back and counter-snipe the nemesis. Liara, stay with her," He reloaded his rifle. "Everyone else, on me."
The first four of them moved forwards, Ashley and Liara remaining behind. John was about to fire at the phantom but was interrupted by the appearance of a second of the close combat troops, jumping up from their right. He was the closet to the phantom and had to roll backwards to evade a swipe from the sharpened blade.
"Take this!" John got back to his feet as Miranda charged the phantom, hurling a warp at him. The warp staggered the phantom, removing a large portion of his barriers. Then she let off almost an entire clip from her Kassa Locust, tearing apart the remaining biotic barriers. Before the phantom could prepare Miranda descended upon him in close combat, launching a high kick towards his sword arm and deflecting the weapon away. She then swung her right arm, with her omni-tool deployed as a stunning weapon, straight into the phantom's midsection. The hit buckled the light armour, blood spurting out from behind the fractured plating. Miranda finished him off with a head shot, immediately reloading her SMG.
"Wow, I'm never getting on your bad side again," John was truly amazed at her prowess, he hadn't seen her fight like that in close combat for a long time. The other phantom was descending upon them now, moving quickly. "Tali, EDI, open fire."
The two complied, Tali with her Geth shotgun and EDI with her own Kassa. The Quarian stopped for a second, deploying Chiktikka once more. The combat drone phased into view next to the phantom, distracting the trooper momentarily as he swiped at the annoying object. This gave EDI time to overload the barriers of the phantom, both of the squadmates finishing off the specialist.
"Shepard, dealt with the nemesis." Ashley's voice was followed by Tali's.
"Phantom down too."
"Good, lets go." Shepard took point once more, moving to the ladder. He ascended, all of the squad following. Miranda's voice carried through to him.
"I hate that thing just looking at us, as if it's haunting us." He could hear the shudder in her voice, wanting to console her immediately despite how strong she was.
"Well at least that's all it can do this time, I don't miss it's ham fists."
"I do miss your Heavy Cain though." He chuckled at her comment, a mini nuke would have been particularly helpful on some of their previous mission.
He began walking on the next level of the catwalk, following it around to the right. Ahead of them was another ladder, leading up to yet another level of the chamber. It seemed that they had to cover a lot more ground to get through to their destination.
He reached the top of the ladder, another bend ahead of him. He moved around the corner, seeing another Cerberus team positioning themselves by a final ladder ahead of him. A phantom jumped up onto the catwalk, joining the pair of assault troopers about ten metres ahead of him. A nemesis was hiding behind them.
"Form up, another Cerberus team." On his order the rest of the team rushed up the ladder, grouping together.
All six of them advanced steadily, targeting directly in front of them. Bullets, biotics, and tech powers catapulted forwards, colliding with the enemies. The assault troopers went down first, followed quickly by the phantom. The nemesis managed to get one shot off at John, removing a portion of his shields. She didn't last for more than another second, collapsing with multiple injuries.
John rushed forwards, heading straight for the ladder. He climbed upwards, followed by the squad. At the top was a door, a green locking mechanism in the centre. He opened it and walked through, emerging into a dark room. As he moved further inside the hum of servers was audible, created by all of the consoles around them. He noticed some medi-gel dispensers and ammo dumps ahead of them.
"Grab some spares guys, I think we're near the central operations room."
He walked forwards with some of the squad, picking up a grenade and some more medi-gel packs. He also checked his spare thermal clips, making sure that he was fully stocked. His preparations were interrupted by Miranda in front of him.
"My god," He turned to see her watching a console. "He's completely lost it now."
He walked over to her, seeing The Illusive Man on the terminal. He wondered what she meant, in his opinion the man had lost it a long time ago.
"Why's that?"
"He's only gone and had Reaper augmentation himself."
That did shock Shepard, he couldn't believe that The Illusive Man would be so foolish. It was a sure way to get indoctrinated, most definitely damming himself to Reaper control.
"That is ridiculous, I can't believe a supposedly intelligent man would do that," He shook his head, beginning to walk away from Miranda. "It could make him even more dangerous however, we have to be careful."
She nodded, the rest of the squadmates moving up to them. He raised his gun, gesturing for them to follow. Another door was ahead of them, a green light in it's centre. He opened it and immediately laughed.
"What's amusing Shepard?"
He looked back at Miranda. "I always knew he was a pretentious prick, but this is taking the piss."
John was referring to the room they had walked into. There was an immense stairway ahead of them, huge in size. The way that they lead up to Cerberus stamped doors ahead made the place look like the entrance to some sort of throne room, a rather dark and foreboding one.
"Clearly he fancies himself as the Emperor of mankind."
Miranda replied dryly. "Clearly."
They approached the door at the top of the stairs, all stopping. He turned to the squad, a serious look on his face.
"Be ready for anything, I have no idea what to expect."
He received nods from all of the group, the squad more than ready for whatever lay beyond. The doors opened, admitting them to a familiar chamber.
They were standing in The Illusive Man's personal sanctum, a room which Shepard had visited before though only through a QEC. He scanned around for enemies, his armour confirming that they were alone. He stowed his weapon and walked forwards to the chair in front of the view screen. He stopped after a few paces in the middle of the QEC projector, remembering all of the disagreements he had with the leader of Cerberus. He shook his head, looked up, and walked again.
He sat down in the chair, taking a brief moment to admire the star in front of him. It was particularly impressive, enticing those who looked at it with it's swirling inferno. Again John mentally chuckled at the Illusive Man's pretentious nature, clearly he thought he was the master of stars as well. Miranda came and stood by the side of the chair, resting a hand on the backrest. Shepard began typing on the keypad in front of him.
"We need to locate the Prothean VI." He was expecting to be answered by a squad member.
"Shepard," John jumped up immediately at the distinctive and superior voice, spinning around with his rifle drawn. Miranda performed the same motion. "Your in my chair."
To his immense displeasure it was only a holographic projection of The Illusive Man, standing in the QEC ring. He wore his usual suit with a customary cigarette in his right hand. There was no glass of bourbon this time, though a look of condescending nature was across his face as ever. Shepard lowered his gun, Miranda following suit. He sneered as he spoke, allowing his hatred of the tycoon to show through.
"This chairs about the only damn thing you have left."
Miranda continued in a similar tone. "Cerberus is finished."
The Illusive Man took a dreg of his cigarette, a small smile on his face as he replied. "On the contrary, we have achieved everything I ever imagined." He leaned forwards, the smile being replaced by a look of determination. "Almost everything."
"Yeah, we all saw what you accomplished on Sanctuary," John shook his head, still not able to believe that The Illusive Man had visions of controlling the Reapers. "But it's not the same as controlling a Reaper."
"A significant hurdle," The Illusive Man nodded in an almost friendly way. "But thanks to the Prothean VI I have what I need to make it a reality."
"The Catalyst." Shepard cursed inwardly. If the Illusive Man had left Chronos Station then it would only be for an important reason – personally recovering the Catalyst. The tycoon confirmed Shepard's suspicions.
"Yes."
"Even with Cerberus in ruins, you still think that you can do this your way?"
"I'd expect you to say that, you never truly believed in us," The blue avatar of the man folded his arms, the cigarette slowly burning in his hand. "Cerberus isn't just an organisation, or even the people behind it," He unfolded his arms and gestured towards Shepard, eyes burning with passion. "Cerberus is an idea, that idea is not so easily destroyed."
Shepard turned his head to check on EDI, the synthetic was typing at another terminal, trying to locate the VI. "EDI?"
"I've almost got it."
"EDI, I'm surprised at you" The Illusive Man's tone changed to one of disapproval, as a parent would berate a child. "Working so hard to bring about the Reapers destruction."
"Don't listen to the bastard." Miranda snarled from his right, taking a step forward. John knew how angered she still was at his manipulations and lies. The Illusive man ignored her, talking to EDI again.
"You could have destroyed Eva's body, but instead you chose to control it."
The synthetic glanced back from the display in front of her. "It was necessary."
The tycoon stood upright, smiling proudly. "My point exactly."
Miranda walked up to the projection, barely able to contain her rage. Shepard had never seen her this angered, not even on Ilium when they rescued her sister.
"How could you do this?" She was face to face with him, gun still hanging in her grasp.
"Letting emotions get the better of you Miranda? How unlike you," He took a final dreg on his cigarette before stubbing it out on an unseen ashtray. "Clearly Shepard has made you weak."
"What?" She scoffed in response. "You manipulated me and used me, just like my father, only to get your own purposes. Shepard showed me the meaning of true purpose, of what's really worth fighting for. And you dared to take that away."
"Your sister?" He cocked his head. "I wasn't involved with her, I couldn't care less about her or you. Though you would have proved an effective way to reel Shepard in should I have required it."
"I've got it." EDI's voice grabbed the attention of all of those in the chamber. In the centre a green image appeared, a rotating oblong with a circle in the centre. It appeared like the one Shepard had seen on Ilos, before forming into the image of a Prothean. It spoke with the same angular voice and accent as Javik.
"Online. Security breach detected."
"Enjoy your little chat," The Illusive man glowered at Miranda before turning and walking away. "But don't overstay your welcome."
Miranda glared into thin air for a few seconds before turning to watch the VI along with everyone else. The VI turned to regard all six of them before talking once more.
"You are attempting to recover me from indoctrinated forces."
Shepard nodded. "Yes, I need to know what the catalyst is."
"Security protocols overridden, I will comply," The VI paused for a couple of seconds, accessing it's memory banks. "The catalyst enhances dark energy transmissions and co-ordinates the entire Mass Relay network. In your cycle it is known as the Citadel."
"What?" This shocked him, gasps from the others in the squad audible as well. It seemed that the Citadel was not only the key to previous Reaper invasions, but perhaps the key to their destruction as well.
"The Catalyst is the Citadel."
Shepard gave the VI an incredulous look, it could have told them this on Thessia. "Why couldn't you tell me this before?"
"It was feared if the Reapers were aware of the Catalyst's intended use, they would retake control of it," The VI turned to face Shepard again. "I am prepared to withhold that information until the Crucible is complete."
Shepard nodded in understanding, understanding the need for a contingency plan. "It's as ready as it'll ever be, lets get it to the Citadel." He turned to walk out of the chamber, stopped by the VI's voice.
"That may no longer be possible."
"Why not?" Miranda asked the question, still standing over by the QEC.
"The one who broke through my security protocols, the one you call The Illusive Man, has flede to the Citadel and informed the Reapers of our purpose."
"Damn it." That confirmed this suspicions, Cerberus was fully under the Reapers control. There was no way back for The Illusive Man.
"The Citadel is in danger," EDI walked over to them, Miranda walking closer as well. "The Reapers will take control of it." The VI interjected straight away.
"They already have, the Citadel has been moved to the Reaper controlled space."
"Moved? Where?" Shepard had a suspicion that he could guess where.
"To the system you refer to as Sol."
"Earth," Somehow he knew that it would all end on Earth. They needed to act fast, he turned to EDI. "EDI, get me Hackett. He needs..."
He was cut off by an explosion colliding with the display in front of EDI.
"Not so fast."
Shepard turned around at the drawling voice, knowing who it was immediately. In front of him stood Kai Leng, the man who murdered Thane. The man who had stolen the VI from Thessia. The man who had tried to kill Miranda.
"You." Shepard fixed a glare at the assassin, filling his voice with pure venom. He heard another rather unladylike snarl from Miranda just behind him, sounding even more lethal than before.
"He did warn you not to overstay your welcome." There was trace of boredom and contempt in his voice, Leng was faced with six of the most dangerous soldiers in the galaxy but clearly thought he was a match for them.
Kai surged forwards with his right hand held aloft, slamming it down into the floor with a shout. The force of the impact caused the floor panels around him to fly upwards, exposing a trench like structure of vents and electrical wires underneath. Sparks flew from Kai Leng's armour, his shields being charged up to full strength. Shepard supposed that he was drawing power from the grid underneath him.
Then Leng rushed at John, screaming a battle cry with his sword held aloft. The assassin slashed his sword upwards at Shepard, the commander only just bringing his Harrier up in time to deflect it. Leng brought his sword back down in the same movement, Shepard swinging his rifle downwards for another parry. Leng then raised his blade over his head, slamming it downwards to complete his three stage attack. Shepard gripped his rifle in two hands across his chest, bashing it forwards against the sword. The two grappled, both pushing against the other with all their strength. Whilst Kai was quicker and agile, Shepard had more strength, gaining the upper hand and pushing their weapons upwards. He aimed a savage kick at the assassins midsection, shoving him out of the grapple. John moved up to press his advantage but Leng disappeared into thin air.
"Eyes up." The squad moved into a rough circle, covering every angle around them. There was an eerie silence in the chamber, faint explosions in other parts of the station audible.
Suddenly a purple flash flared in front of Shepard, rushing towards him and colliding with his armour. It was either a biotic or tech attack from Kai Leng, who had now become visible and was sprinting towards John. He didn't care what the attack was, all he cared was that it had removed his shields completely.
"This is better than Thessia." The assassin grinned as he taunted, now only a metre from Shepard. Leng jumped into the air, pivoting to aim a savage swipe at John's head. Shepard ducked down, the squad moving around him to face the assassin. The blade made a swooshing sound as it cut thin air, followed by a crackle as Miranda turned and launched an EMP blast. Leng's shields took damage, dipping slightly in strength.
"It's more personal," Leng ran past the group, stopping by The Illusive Man's displays. Again Leng slammed his fist into the ground, removing more floor panels and beginning to recharge up his shields. "And I have a rematch with dear Miranda."
"Look up!" Shepard followed Tali's call upwards, seeing that Leng's pulse had removed ceiling panels as well. A pair of assault troopers dropped down, flanking Leng and laying down fire at the squad. The assassin was immune to damage whilst he was recharging his shields, forcing the squad to target the assault troopers.
Ashley and Liara were down in the first set of 'trenches'. Shepard realised that neither of them were laying down suppressing fire, turning to see a squad of six troopers entering through the main doors. The human and Asari were engaging the squad.
"We'll hold them commander."
"Good," Shepard spun back around to face Leng, letting their rearguard hold the door. The Cerberus assassin stood back up, shields returning to three quarters strength. "Take down his shields."
Leng charged once more, taking a pair of EMPs and gunfire from the squad. He ignored it, shouting abuse as he ran.
"All your doing is making humanity weaker!" Shepard scoffed at this, taking a step forwards as he loosed a concussive round at Leng, he wasn't the one betraying his own race. Miranda was clearly of the same opinion, shouting in response.
"Well your using Reaper tech."
Leng reached her, aiming a viscous swipe. She impressed Shepard with her close combat prowess once more, ducking and sticking her foot out to trip him. Leng jumped the leg and raised his free hand to strike Miranda on his way down. His momentary focus on Miranda gave John the opportunity to move up behind him, slamming his rifle butt in Kai's back. At the same time Miranda jumped backwards, avoiding Leng's backhand. The assassin stumbled but quickly recovered, spinning low to hit Shepard's legs with his sword. Both Shepard and Miranda rolled backwards from him, EDI and Tali launching fire into him. Leng's shields took another dip, causing him to shout in frustration and run away from then. Kai clearly wasn't used to being contested in combat.
As Leng ran he passed Tali, sending a ranged attack at the Quarian. Tali's shields went down immediately, staggering her. The assassins sword flashed rapidly across Tali's chest, skimming across her exo-suit. This was followed up by a savage punch to the side of her head. John watched in horror as her body hit the ground instantly.
"Tali!"
He raised his rifle, aiming straight at his foe. Before he could fire Leng slammed his fist down once more, Tali's body flying a few metres away, landing awkwardly by The Illusive Man's chair. More floor panels flew away, three assault troopers and a nemesis dropping into the battle. Leng looked up at Shepard with an evil grin on his face, still crouching as his shields recharged.
"We evolve," He gestured to Tali's prone form with his free hand. "Or we die." Leng stood back up, twirling his sword in one hand. The troops next to him provided fire, forcing EDI, Miranda, and Shepard backwards to take cover in one of the destroyed floor sections.
"Shit!" Shepard cursed, angered by the situation. He was worried for Tali's health. His HUD informed him that she was alive but she may have had a suit rupture, and that could be fatal. There was no way to get to her, but luckily the enemy seemed to be ignoring her. A call from Ashley was heard.
"Phantoms, coming through the door, Liara's down. I don't think I can hold them." Shepard swore again, hearing a grenade going off in the background.
"EDI, help her out."
The synthetic nodded, moving smoothly out of cover and taking a long route around to avoid Kai Leng. The assassin ignored her, focussing on Miranda and Shepard – his prized foes.
"This is getting out of hand John, we need this bastard dead."
From her tone he could hear her own concern. She had subsided her anger, replacing it with controlled rage. John needed her to keep a clear head, he only had one crazy idea left.
"I know," He peered out of cover, seeing Leng walking slowly towards them. "You deal with the troops, I'll take Leng. His shields won't take much more damage."
She nodded, both rising together. She threw biotic attacks and SMG fire at the troopers, Shepard firing at Kai. The two men began moving towards one another, both gaining speed in a re-staging of Thane and Leng's encounter on the Citadel. One of the troopers shifted fire from Miranda to Shepard, the biotic dispatching him with a warp before he could do any damage.
Both Leng and Shepard were at full speed now, barely a couple of paces from each other. Leng had his sword poised, no doubt ready for another series of deadly attacks. As they closed Leng struck out at chest level, forcing Shepard to drop down and slide on his knees underneath the sword. This turned out to be a faint, Leng reversing his grip to jab backwards into the back of Shepard's shoulder. He felt agony as the blade bit deeply and stuck.
John tried to pivot and bring his Harrier into line, attempting some defence. He heard a chuckle from behind him, Leng walking slowly around to face Shepard with a huge grin on his face. The assassin stopped only a metre ahead of him, kicking the Harrier from John's grip.
"Is this the best you can do Shepard?" The drawling voice carried easily over the sound of intense gunfire surrounding them. Ashley and EDI were still busy holding the door, Miranda was nowhere to be seen and Liara and Tali were still down.
"How are the legs, getting tired?" Shepard managed to put some bite into his voice, not quite managing to keep the pain out. The sword was still lodged in his back, providing John with only one possibility. He just had to keep Leng talking. There was a sudden increase in the level of gunfire in the room, before it all died down, Leng didn't seem to notice however.
"You were still slow Shepard, just like Thessia." Shepard heard a distinct clicking noise, getting louder with each time it was heard. Leng didn't hear it, oblivious to any noise save his own, drawling voice. Shepard smiled at Miranda's timely arrival.
"Your still too cocky Leng."
At his words Miranda stopped behind Leng, powering up her omni-tool. She slammed it into the side of the assassins head, causing him to shout out in pain as he crashed to his knees. In one motion Shepard reached behind his back, grabbing the hilt of the sword. He tore it straight out, slinging it over his head and straight into Kai Leng's chest. Blood spurted from the wound on Shepard's back, but it was nothing compared to the torrent from Leng's chest wound. As the assassin collapsed to the ground, Shepard growled at him.
"That was for Thane you son of a bitch."
Miranda stepped over the body, rushing over to John. She tore open a medi-gel packet, rubbing it straight into his shoulder wound.
"Your back's taking quite the pounding today," She helped him to his feet, allowing him to lean on her. He looked around, seeing several N7 special operations teams entering. There was a mixture of all manner of aliens, even a Volus, lead by one familiar figure. "Seems that reinforcements arrived."
The Salarian captain inclined his head towards Shepard before speaking. "I see you held the line for long enough commander."
John chuckled at the line, soon breaking it off as he remembered Tali's injured body. He turned around to see EDI helping her up, Liara nursing a shoulder as she was helped up by Ashley. John breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of his team patching themselves up.
"You OK?"
"I think I'm alright commander," Tali shook her head, swaying slightly as she shook of concussion. "A mild suit rupture, it'll be fine."
"Good, let's go."
The VI appeared once more, in the centre of the room.
"I will integrate with the Crucible's systems to help the docking procedure with the Citadel."
"Thank you."
"Perhaps you will succeed where we failed."
He shook his head at the VI, Miranda still helping him to stand up. "You didn't fail, you gave us a chance, and we're not done yet."
They squad left the chamber, a tech specialist from the N7 team moving to extract the VI. Kirahhe barked out orders for securing the station. Shepard didn't hear what he said exactly, he was already planning out his final night with Miranda.
A/N Now then, off to do some "research" for the next scene - Heh heh... ;)
