Kai ducked behind the cover of the lunch table she'd knocked over while Erika and her child hid in the kitchens. She'd found the two getting boxed in by a few of Cerberus and naturally she'd jumped to the rescue. Luckily Kai had been joined by the coach who was aiding her in holding back the troopers that just kept coming through the main doors. "Where the hell are they all coming from!?" Kai yelled after shooting one straight through the skull. They were like cockroaches.
"Nice shot, kid!" The coach called back from his spot behind some vending machines.
Kai smirked and fired a few shots at some Engineer who was trying to set up a turret. "Shit, shit.. Cover me, Coach!" After a deep breath Kai gathered her energy and charged the man, knocking him back a bit. Quickly she grabbed onto him and fired a bullet through his chest at point blank range. Last thing they needed was for him to set up that gun. The sounds of the door opening alerted the tomboy to the influx of Cerberus troops who flooded in like water being released from a dam. Kai backed up a few steps while the coach fired at the hostiles to cover her. He'd managed to take out a few but by the time Kai managed to find decent cover they'd been surrounded. "Fuck.." Kai frowned, standing slowly and raising her hands up in surrender. She would have fought until death if there wasn't a little girl in the back room with her mother but right now they needed her alive. If surrender meant she could protect them, then surrender was what she would do. Of course her head was abuzz with different routes of escape and different tactics to gain the upper hand but for those to work she needed a full fledged biotic or at least a decent distraction.
The coach cast a glance to Kai and followed her lead, dropping his gun as ordered by one of the shock troops. He would have questioned the white flag act but even he knew there were too many bodies to fight against. "Thanks for trying, kid." He smiled towards Kai, flashing her a look that said she'd done her best.
"Coach. That hurts." Kai muttered, "Have some faith in me." She wasn't sure what she could do but seeing this man resign to his fate so easily made her want to fight for him. She didn't want to let Cerberus take them. Blue eyes scanned the area for some form of distraction. She noted a few Guardian's with shields stood under a fire alarm. While the leader of the Cerberus group spouted orders Kai took a quick glance over her shoulder to see Erika emerge from the kitchens as asked. In the quick second the doors closed she'd noted the cookers and ovens all lined up. If she could get the civilians in the giant fridge, she could blow up the Cerberus troops. "Coach.. It's about to get a little hot in here. Get to the fridge." The coach had cast a confused look to the girl but when he saw her hook her boot under the pistol she'd dropped he didn't question her motives. Cooley and calmly he approached Erika, his hands remaining raised as he assured the troops he was just moving to comfort the woman. When he reached her he hugged onto her and whispered the plan into her ear, though the missing daughter alarmed him. Erika nodded and hugged the coach thankfully, informing him that she'd told her daughter to hide behind some boxes to avoid being caught. She had figured Cerberus would take them away to a fate worse than they already had so had told her to avoid being seen until Yusuke returned. A desperate act of a mother but she had faith that Yusuke would return alive.
Kai looked back at the two and gave a firm nod to the coach who covered Erika quickly and pulled her into the kitchens. In one fluid movement Kai had kicked the pistol up and shot the alarm, shocking Cerberus when the fire alarm and sprinkler system activated. By the time they looked back to try and shoot the girl she'd vaulted herself over the counter and charged herself into the kitchen. "What exactly is your plan!?" Erika yelled as she collected her child.
"Kill everyone." She stated flatly as she turned on the gas to all the cookers and ovens in the kitchen. "Get in the fridge. Now." Kai ordered with a glare. Erika faltered for a brief second but nodded and entered the fridge with a thank you to the Alliance soldier.
"What about you?" The coach asked in concern, hand on the door to the fridge. "You'll be blown up with them!" He didn't like the idea of leaving her out in the blast zone. "Let me do it."
"Have a little faith, Coach." Kai repeated with a wink and pushed him into the fridge, manually shutting the door behind him from the outside. Kai's gaze lifted up to the vents above her and she took a deep breath to steady her nerves. The sounds of Cerberus manoeuvring around outside the door could be heard and her attention was soon brought to the door. The orders were to kill her and obtain the subjects. "Fucking Cerberus." Kai growled. "They're people not subjects." The grip on her pistol tightened and she rose it immediately, just waiting on the doors opening to fire the shot and spark up the explosion. Cerberus sickened her. She was enraged by their comments as they were supposed to be humanity's shield. Now they were the sword in humanity's back and she would not allow them to take the civilians she swore to protect. The tension built up within the girl the longer Cerberus took until eventually the doors opened. Without hesitation Kai pulled the trigger and in mere seconds the room sparked up in flame until an explosion burst from the room, the gas in the kitchen had leaked out into the cafeteria so the blast travelled out and decimated all in its path. The room was ablaze until the fire system sparked up in the kitchen and extinguished the flames, clearing the exit for the survivors in the fridge. The stench of burning flesh and melded metal filled the air as the coach emerged after a few minutes.
"Oh my god.." He gasped when he was met with a melting Cerberus troop. "Erika.. Cover your nose and Rin's face. It's a nightmare out here. I'll try and find the girl.. You get your daughter out."
Erika picked up Rin and clutched her daughters head to her. "Close your eyes, sweetie." She'd went to follow the gym teachers orders but Kai dropped down into her path, looking a bit singed but other than that, healthy. "Kaiser!" Erika shrieked. "Where?.. How?.. Are you alright!? Young lady explain yourself!"
The coach spun around at the commotion and stared at the grinning soldier, shocked to the spot. "How did you.."
Kai glanced between the two in confusion for a minute. "I said have faith in me." A sly grin slowly spread across her lips and she pointed towards the ducts. "I was a duct rat on the Citadel growing up. So I did what was familiar to me and took to the vents."
"You should have been burnt alive!" Erika gasped, "We felt the room shake from the explosion. You shouldn't have survived that! Did you know the vents would shield you?"
Kai shrugged at patted out an ember that tried to re-light on her shoulder. "Not really no." That earned her glares from the two adults in front of her. "Hey! Don't look at me like that, I just saved your asses! I knew the vents were deployed during the First Contact War so I knew they had to be sturdy to survive a bombing. It's the same material used for bunkers if I'm getting my facts right. My only worry was if I could get in the vents in time.. Clearly, I made it."
"Not completely." The coach chuckled as he moved over to her to pat down the burning cinders on her. "You're still sparking."
"I just outran an explosion, mate. I'm fast but not that fast." Kai laughed then turned her attention to the mother. "How's your daughter?" She asked Erika who looked happy that the girl was still with them.
"She's shaking.." Erika frowned and cuddled the girl.
"Her name's Rin?" Kai looked to the mother for confirmation before approaching the hiding six year old. "Hey there, Rin." She spoke softly, getting the girl to at least peek a look towards her.
"Why's the man lady all dirty?" Rin asked her mother. She'd clearly never seen a tomboy before.
Kai smiled and crossed her arms, "Because this man lady just defeated a dragon."
"What!?" Rin squeaked and raised her head in excitement. "You fought a bad dragon? Was it huge? Did it have spikes?"
"Sure was. It was gigantic and had razor sharp spikes on its back. But Rin, listen, it destroyed a bit of the school okay? So you can't look at it because it isn't nice. The bad men got caught in the fight." Kai informed the little girl who nodded along to her every word. "I'll get you and your mother out of here safely, okay? But you need to promise not to look and to look after your mother."
"I promise dragon knight! I'll look after mummy. Mummy don't look at it!" Rin turned to face her mum and covered Erika's eyes.
Erika giggled and pressed a kiss to Rin's forehead before making her hide her face again, this time however Rin complied and had stopped crying because of Kai's dragon story. "Thank you, Kaiser." Erika pressed a kiss to Kai's cheek in thanks and hoisted her daughter up a bit more to hold her securely. "What do we do now?"
"More of those men would have heard the blast surely." The coach sighed. "We need to get out of here."
Kai nodded. "Coach.. You looked like you knew what you were doing back there."
"I'm Korean, ma'am. Joining the military was mandatory. I've had training." The coach smiled proudly. "I stayed on for a few extra years before becoming a P.E teacher."
"So you're qualified to protect Erika and Rin?" Kai asked firmly.
"More than qualified." The coach had shifted his gaze to lock eyes with Erika for a moment and in that moment Kai believed this man would defend those two to the death.
With another nod Kai took hold of the coaches arm and pulled him off to the side, "Coach.. A word. Listen. My brothers still in here, I need to find her. So is Kyoko and Haru. I'll find them all and we'll meet up with you but staying here is a bad plan so I need you to take Erika and Rin to these co-ordinates." After giving the coach the directions to their parked shuttle she placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm trusting you here, Coach. We'll be along shortly. I promise. I won't leave you waiting long.. I just need you to get that little girl out of this." This man had saved her a few times back when they were having their gunfight in the cafeteria, he'd even supplied her with energy bars to keep her biotic charge up and running. It was because of him she was standing here and because of him she had faith that Erika and Rin would make it to the shuttle safely.
The coach listened intently and placed his hand on the side of the girls neck in a comforting manner, to assure her that what she was asking him to do was something he could accomplish. "I understand, Ma'am. We'll be waiting for you." Kai sighed in relief and parted from the coach, raising her gun to scout out the cafeteria in case there were survivors or reinforcements. Before she left however the coach caught her attention and she couldn't help but smile at him. "My name's Ryu by the way. Ryu Sungtae." That was a name Kai would remember for quite sometime. She figured if they got back to the Citadel that she could perhaps look him up later. She knew he was dependable, he had her back through this entire mess. Now though she had to focus on finding Keo, Haru and Kyoko in amongst all the chaos. The worst part was that the explosion would draw Cerberus straight to her like flies to a pile of shit. Kai used her infiltrator training to her advantage by sticking to the shadows and taking the most deserted routes. Eventually she found herself in the schools med bay to which she was grateful for. She looted the medi-gel and other useful items before taking a moment to collect herself. The moment was short lived as suddenly the loud sound of an explosion and the shaking of the school alerted the girl back into action. "What the hell!?... Wait that wasn't me this time..." Kai sprinted out the room and down the hallways until she saw a large black cloud of smoke coming from a blocked hallway that was covered in debris. From what she could make out the thing in her path was a shuttle. Panic struck the girl instantly as she'd sent Ryu straight to the shuttle not that long ago. Thoughts of Erika, Rin and Ryu laying dead within caused her to tremble and she began banging on the shuttle doors in desperation. "Ryu! Rin! Erika! Can you hear me!?-" Kai stumbled back when the shuttle door struggled to lift from the brick but when it did she was met by a welcome face, a face that brought tears to her eyes. "Guk!" Instantly Kai scrambled to her feet and threw herself into the mans arms who caught her gratefully.
"Cub! Thank god." Guk grunted from the impact but his arms locked around her tightly, head dropping onto her shoulder, thankful to see the girl breathing. "We saw the Cerberus shuttle and panicked. We thought you guys were gone."
Kai pulled herself away from the man and checked him out, "Are you hurt? What happened?"
Yongguk shook his head and smiled his gummy smile at her. "I'm alright, don't worry. You can thank Yusuke for the crash though."
"Hey I knew we'd be alright." Yusuke emerged, crossing his arms huffily while Koji draped an arm around the boys shoulders. "Who's the chick?"
"Yosh! This is Kai." Koji grinned, "Be polite you little shit."
Yusuke gave Kai the once over and nodded his head. "Where's Haru? I was told you and your friend were sent to protect the people here."
Kai straightened up instantly, giving off a military vibe straight off the bat. "There's been complications. Guk, Cerberus intercepted and pretended to be an Alliance ship that was sending a shuttle to collect the civvies." Kai suddenly smirked, "They weren't expecting an Alliance welcome wagon."
Yongguk couldn't help but grin at the girl. "That's my Cub. But where's Babydoll? I thought you'd be together."
Kai looked up at the vents with a grin. "Being a duct rat." She looked back to the three and raised a brow. "Where'd you get that?" She'd gestured to the wrecked shuttle, hoping it wasn't the one they'd brought here.
Koji released Yusuke and stepped forward. "I hacked into its systems after I transferred some of the power from a near by generator into it. It was just an idle shuttle. We used it to escape the comm tower. It wasn't a challenge."
"He's neglecting to mention the brute and the countless husks and that freaky Turian looking thing that tried to take us out while he did this." Yusuke glared, though he had a small smirk on his face. "So.. Can we get back to finding my little brother or what?"
"Oh right!" Kai snapped her attention to Guk and informed him of everything he'd missed. "So.. Ryu's taking Erika and Rin to the shuttle but we need to find Keo and the two teenagers. Cerberus are calling them subjects so from here out we need to kill every single person in that stupid white armor we come across."
Yongguk nodded and gestured to two boys out of the shuttle. They hopped out eagerly and lifted the weapons they'd grown attached to in their battle for their lives. "Alright, guys. Koji, keep your eyes on the vents, you'll be looking for a blonde biotic. Yusuke, you know your brother."
Kai smiled as she was glad she at least had back up again. Especially if that back up was Yongguk. "Where's everyone else?" She asked when they cleared a few hallways of lingering troops. It was surprising how well they worked together. It made the fight back in the cafeteria seem stupid as now the fight was even.
Guk glanced to the girl and fired a shot at a trooper who had just rounded the corner. "Back at the shuttle we arrived in. We dropped them off before coming to the school. Figured something was up if you two hadn't brought them there like we planned."
"Is everyone.." Her question was answered by the smile Guk flashed her. It was a smile of someone who'd found his family without losing a single one of them. A wave of relief washed over her though a worry of how long that type of luck would last for festered at the back of her mind. "Oh, I have a new trick to show you. I think Himchan will be proud." Kai brightened up and lowered Guk's gun as he caught sight of another Cerberus operative. That was where Kai started to glow a biotic purple and in a flash she was over beside the target. Guk watched with his mouth agape as Kai snapped the soldiers neck and walked back to him.
"You're a biotic!? You're a Vanguard!? How? When?" Guk asked in amazement. He looked utterly caught off guard and confused but happy all at the same time. "Woah!"
Kai laughed and reached up to ruffle the mans hair. "For awhile now. My instructor was wondering why I wasn't able to pick up a simple tactical cloak so he put me through another test. I was better equipped for the sniper rifles and I could use overload but not like the others could. I kept screwing it up. So when I went for the resit my instructor noticed a little something.. I had Vanguard capabilities. So I trained in secret, picked that up easier and now I'm a mini Krogan. Now let's get the family back together, neh? Cerberus won't know what hit 'em." At Kai's new skill, Yongguk seemed to glow with a mixture of pride and determination. This time Cerberus wouldn't get the better of them, it wouldn't be like the Luna Base. Not this time. The hunt had begun.