"Dad, you have to go back for her and Garrus." Solana gasped as she tried to rest her weight on the leg that wasn't injured. Castis winced at his daughter's pain, glancing behind them. There was only one group of hostages left as far as he knew- and they were several floors above them. Shepard had convinced him to get Solana to a transport and leave her to find his son…
"He's in good hands. You can't make it on your own anyway with that leg." He told her, his tone meant it wasn't up for debate. She looked up at him as gunfire rattled off in the distance.
"How did I not see this?" She whispered as Castis readjusted her. "I should have known…" Solana had her eyes downcast. He glanced at her, looking at the elevator ahead of them. He wouldn't risk it if her injuries weren't so severe. Flashing lights outside drew his attention out the window beside them and he leaned a little. "The police finally got off their asses." Castis sighed, trying to think of a way to console her. This would haunt them, like it would all those who had been held prisoner here.
"Sometimes… we miss things. We miss obvious facts about a person. And sometimes we see nothing but what we want to." Castis let the doors slide open for them to the elevator, and he moved them inside. "We have to admit we're wrong and move on as best we can." He bumped his head into her's gently. "Whether it's to apologize or to fight them another day… Hold yourself accountable, but don't dwell. Oseser will get his."
She rose her brow at him, "Talking about someone else in particular?" Castis let out a slow sigh as the elevator descended down toward the parking garage.
"I've recently revised my opinion of the Commander." He murmured as the elevator slowed to a stop a few floors from where they should have been. The electricity went out and he swore softly, "Hold on to me, Solana.. it's going to be a bumpy ride."
xXx
She was in the air vent. It was large enough for her to crouch in, but it wasn't her ideal position. A rifle sat heavily in her hands, her breathing came slow and steady. The squad they had narrowly avoided earlier were doing rounds inches from her, and it made her nerves twitch eagerly. Either that or it was the stiffness in her legs.
Shepard overheard a one sided conversation from one of the soldiers. They were still searching for them and they were certain they were still on this floor. She took solace that they didn't know about Castis and Solana trying to get down to the parking garage. One side of her hoped they would leave; just now she knew they would be out of the way. On the other, she didn't like the emptiness by her side Castis had filled up until now. She knew how to operate alone, but preferred when she didn't have to watch every inch of her ass in a firefight.
The two guards who had been loitering around outside the vent cover finally stepped away from each other. "Gotta piss." One grunted at the other and there was an answering huff. She listened for the footsteps to echo away. Taking out a knife from her boot she crept closer to the edge, setting the rifle down silently behind her now she had both hands free; one of the earlier guards she had killed had tried to give her a nasty kidney wound with it.
Without much noise besides the vent cover knocking into the back of the soldier's legs- effectively knocking him off balance- she put the knife right through his neck. There was gagging and very little struggle as he gripped weakly behind him for another few moments before going limp in her hands. Armor could bounce bullets off you all day with enough shielding… what they didn't tell you as it was rarely ever effective up close and personal. If she still had her personal omni-tool, she would have been able to do a lot more damage.
She shoved the body back into the air vent, removing her own gun before shutting the cover. The other guard would be back soon. At least the floor already had enough blood stains on it that she doubted he would really notice at first. Moving around the corner, she waited for the one who had given into his bodily functions. Red hair flopped into her face as she glanced at her visor. There were quite a few red dots up here and she doubted she would be able to explor-
A bomb went off.
Blasting her from the wall where she was crouched and into another room entirely.
Was it a bomb?
She was dazed, her visor had been knocked clean off. Her side had a brand new ache in it and she touched the armor side piece where she had been shot earlier, her hand coming away with fresh blood.
"The medi-gel must have been dislodged- fuck-"
Despite the pain Shepard ducked down as soldiers scanned the room for her or looking for the source of the blast. "What the fuck was that?!" One shouted at the other, "Trap! Archangel escaped!"
Her green eyes snapped open and she rose from her place beneath the debris. A new fury and energy taking hold of her; perhaps it was just the adrenalin from being shot at all day and nearly blown to hell.
Archangel escaped.
She snapped off a few clean shots in their surprise. Smoke, plaster and dust made a thick cloud she could barely see through. A tell-tale hiss of a medical tank leaking nearby forced her to move. Limping down the hall, she scooped an abandoned helmet off the floor. It still had a bit of spin on it from being taken from someone's head.
Shepard jammed it on after pushing her hair out of her face. She was definitely getting a haircut after this. The helmet had a crack in it but the heads up display still flickered to life. The tank behind her exploded and she took cover, having the building shake a little. Hopefully it was an oxygen tank and not something worse. A hysterical laugh almost bubbled up in her throat, she had gotten so used to things exploding she willingly took one over more worse options- never mind the fact that exploding objects were bad. The entire hallway changed with the head's up display and she let out a slow breath, seeing green outlines of men on the floor. The original owner of the helmet hadn't had time to disable it. Good.
The smoke almost refused to clear, sprinklers had come on at this point; showering the halls in flame resistant gel. It made things slick, so as the guards made it up the hallway from checking the west exam rooms- they weren't ready for Shepard running full speed down the hallway at them. When they raised their weapons she dropped, sliding across the floor as she opened fire. One actually tried to run and slipped himself. She stepped out of her slide, bringing up the weapon again. Another rattle of gunfire and the squad she and Castis had ran into earlier was gone.
She mentally counted them inside her head, breathing hard as her side stung. Matrix sliding down the hallway wasn't her most intelligent idea but it had worked. "Six total. Body in the vent. First explosion got one. I got two afterward. Then the two who were in the hallway…" Shepard realized her mistake thinking they didn't have backup when she went up another floor. As soon as she rounded the stairwell corner she saw several men and Oseser himself in front of her.
There wasn't much time to take in why they were in the hallway, or even why Oseser had braved out his hiding place. None the less, when their eyes met he let out a fearsome roar, startling his men more so than Shepard. There was no time to duck behind cover, no time to think besides to raise her rifle. All thought of capturing Oseser alive went out the window as an image of how they found Solana flickered inside her head. Then the hostages they had rescued- some could barely even walk. Children, no matter the species, had been ripped away from their homes and families because of this bastard. She let out a battle cry of her own, firing at him. If she was going to die, she was going to die fighting. And she would personally ride Oseser's corpse to Hell if she had to.
Another explosion ripped the hallway in half, sending her falling backward. It collapsed the ceiling and made an effective wall between her and Oseser. She could hear him screaming swears and orders from the other side- rubble being clawed through too. Her ears rang and she put a hand on her side. Undoubtedly she would have died just then- she might have gotten Oseser, but the rest of his men would have put her down. Whatever or whomever bought her a few more moments to find Garrus, she would thank later.
Shepard pulled herself off the floor, not even realizing she was gasping for breath. The smoke grew thicker and she had to completely rely on her helmet visor that was blinking in and out to see in front of her. A red blurred outline appeared at the end of the hall going the opposite direction, even though she couldn't see what it actually was. She held her breath, moving low down the hallway. Her suit was damaged and the helmet filters weren't doing that great of a job. There were small fires littering the ground from debris and soldiers who had been killed in earlier fights she had to make her way around and over to follow the red 'enemy' outline.
The figure was in a hurry; whether it was Garrus or another survivor she was going to find it. The blur disappeared as her helmet malfunctioned from the crack. She smacked the side of it and it came back to life for a moment. "Hold on a little longer…"
xXx
Garrus was trying to get this god damn lock open and he was not happy it wasn't cooperating. The gunfire and explosions in the distance weren't helping his nerves. Where he was in the hallway he couldn't see if someone was going to come up on him from behind. Another blinking red light and a soft female voice that seemed to irritate rather than calm told him, "Access denied."
He'd cut off Oseser from the elevators for now; but it wouldn't take them long to get through his half-assed defenses. One could only make so much from an abandoned janitor closet and some well-placed oxygen tanks.
He hissed angrily as the lock blinked red again and he nearly put his fist through it. Even that seemed like a better plan than trying to get a stupidly high security lock to work with him. His brain was fogged with pain, his heart was beating out of his chest, and his stomach was twisted with the questions that just wouldn't quit biting at the edge of his mind.
"Had she really gone over? Where was Solana- Dad? Mom? Why is Eclipse starting a firefight with Oseser's bunch of mercs? What happened to the other hostages? Did he lose her again? There was too much firepower here, how was he going to get these hostages out? Where would he take them? When this door unlocked how would he even convince them to follow him? Where was Oseser now? Shepard…"
He rested his head on the door for a moment, taking a moment to keep his mind on what he was doing. Those sort of questions right now where going to get him killed. Right here and now is what he needed to be worried about. What he needed to do was rescue the hostages he'd been stuck with earlier, find Solana, shoot Oseser several times, and then get out of here alive… Then go back to where they had been ambushed to find his father and… her, or figure out where they took them. He just had to get past this fucking lock first.
A buzz of a taser fired up behind him. He'd heard so many of them he could practically recite the model numbers by heart. Garrus knew that his position was exposed, and rolled to the left to get out of the way of the taser's first strike. The taser made a high pitched static sound as it bounced off the door behind him and the prongs vibrated the floor. He was on his back, pointed at the soldier who had snuck up on him.
Garrus pulled the trigger and his stomach dropped several floors into the lobby. The pistol's cartridge malfunctioned. The soldier came closer, reloading the taser quickly. "I've got Arch-." Garrus stood, ready to use this broken pistol as a bludgeoning tool if he took another step.
He dropped to the ground without him firing a shot. Garrus side stepped as the other leaned forward, smacked into the door, and lay still with a two bullets in the back of the head.
He wasn't ugly enough to scare them to death yet, was he?
Out of the smoke and the ashes of the building falling apart around him another soldier stepped into view. The gun was pointed downward now, a wisp of smoke coming from the end of the mussle. His gun was half-raised, wondering if this was not-so-friendly fire. This one didn't know his gun wasn't working, right? Could he grab the taser faster than they could shoot him? He doubted it.
Two more soldiers, apart of Oseser's personal guard came down the hallway and were both shot twice in the head thinking the one in front of the turian was on their side. Garrus could only stand and watch as they dropped too. Soon as they were down, his rescuer removed her helmet. It was almost like his world went into slow motion. His breath escaped him, "Shepard!"
They were on each other in a second; Garrus wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. Shepard kissed him, resting her forehead against his, "I thought I lost you for a second." She whispered to him, pulling away because they were in fact- still in a very bad situation.
"They told me you went over." Garrus didn't pull away from her too far, still not completely sure she was there in front of him. A little of her blood got on him and he immediately checked her over.
"It's a through and through. You?" She readied her weapon. There was a brief flicker of a smile on her features, as if he could believe a cliff would be the end of her. "I did."
"Got me a few times, but nothing that'll be a permanent addition." Garrus had to see the wound for himself, but ultimately agreed on her diagnosis. "That's my girl." He pushed the hair out of her face, his fingers lingered there for a moment, "Where's Dad? Solana?"
Shepard touched his hand, "We've been busy. Most of the hostages are safe. Solana told me you were with the last batch. Castis is with her in the parking garage."
"We've?" A soldier rounded the corner and Shepard shot her. He hit the floor and Shepard gestured for him to return to the lock. She was thankful for few seconds she had been given to realize she'd found him in one piece and not what her head had been telling her she'd find.
"Let's get that door open. I'll explain later." There was shouting and radio chatter from down the hall. Garrus went back to work on the lock as the redhead took a position at the corner. More opposition, but this time her aim was even better than before. What had Garrus said once? Now she had something to lose and an aim to make sure she didn't.
"Time to go!" The door slid open and beeped loudly, trying to shut again immediately afterward. Garrus put himself between it, holding it open for her to dive between him and the door. She held it open from the other side long enough for him to slip through too. He stood up from his roll, looking around the room.
It was empty. The soldiers didn't follow them and Shepard stuck close by the door, hearing the chatter and then retreat. That never, ever, meant well. "It wasn't a secret were getting the hostages out. Do you think Oseser took them? I saw him on this floor earlier."
"Where would he take them? You've got the parking garage secured. Half the building is on fire. Elevator access is shut down for the most part." Garrus walked farther into the room, seeing people's make-shift sleeping arrangements littered around the room.
"Vakarian." The intercom buzzed over their head. "You know, Jordi warned me about you. That I'd be biting off more than I could chew. Especially when Commander Shepard so heroically came to rescue you."
Garrus looked at Shepard, nodding toward the door. This was a trap if he ever saw one- and he had seen a lot of them. An image on one of the patient record screens flickered to life. Supplies had been abandoned here without the power ever being turned off. Every working screen came on in the room and outside of it. Broadcasting to the entire hospital. Oseser appeared on it in the parking garage and Shepard's lips became a thin line. "Jordi and I have a little bet going. I can rebuild everything I've built here- again… and again. So a few hostages getting away doesn't bother me. But you, you bother me." He tapped on the camera screen, "And frankly, you're on my last nerve."
Off screen someone yelled in pain and a young woman was dragged into the picture. She struggled against Oseser's grip. "Now I'm going to have a hostage shot every ten minutes until I see you in front of me on the top floor. You and the Commander both." He held her by her neck and pressed a pistol to her temple. "And just to make sure you know I'm very serious."
He pulled the trigger once and dropped the woman. There was screaming from more hostages in the garage. Oseser grinned at the camera, a jagged toothed smile and a bleeding face wound froze before it went dark. They stared at the screen a few more moments. Solana and Castis were headed down there and they had no way to warn them away.
"We have to go." He said softly, taking the rifle that Shepard offered him.
She gave a single nod, not looking away from the now black screen. "I know."