Chapter 28
SoulEye: Pressure Cooker (VVVVVV soundtrack)
A/N: Apologies in advance for any spelling errors, I'm having to get this out now or wait for a good while. I'll go back and make necessary corrections soon, if they exist. Enjoy!
"I miss all these lazy afternoons we used to spend together," I mutter sarcastically, as Garrus and I duck into another alleyway, sticking to the shadows and jogging towards the safehouse location while I check my omni-tool. Only a couple of minutes away from the place…good. Having to check every corner before we make a move is getting tiresome. There's probably not that much point, since our reputation amongst the citizens of Omega is quite good, but staying out of sight means any passing merc can't get an eyeball on us. Besides, some of the people here would kill their own mothers for a few credits, and Garrus and I are worth significantly more than that without the drawback of being related to them. So, we keep hidden. Normally we just take the rooftops for missions, but this is a residential area, so everything's a tad too stretched out for that to work.
"You're getting the pleasure of my company, stop complaining," Garrus replies, chuckling as we slow the pace in the abandoned alley. "You know how many women are jealous of you right now?"
"I'm sure thousands of them are mourning the fact they're not with you," I mutter, smiling to myself.
"I'm serious," the turian says. "I've heard all the stories about Archangel, the mysterious turian in blue, saving the innocent and punishing the wicked. They say he's handsome, you know."
"I'm pretty sure you spread that rumour yourself," I laugh. "Besides, I thought you hated the whole 'Archangel' thing."
Garrus pauses for a second, presumably to mull it over. "Normally, yeah. Still, if that's how women see me, then there's not much I can do."
"You're incorrigible," I say. I genuinely have missed missions with Garrus…the whole way here, we've been bantering on, just like old times at C-Sec, even with how much more dangerous the situation around here is. Part of me kind of misses the old days, just him and me…but hey, time moves on, right? "Taking advantage of your reputation. I don't hear shit about Deadpool."
"You look bad in comparison to me," Garrus shrugs. "Sorry."
"Screw you," I grin. "So, the safehouse should be just past this alley. How do you want to do this?"
"Blow it up," he replies immediately. "Explosives. It's the only way to make sure." There's a pause where I just stare at him. "I'm joking. We can't make a plan until we see the safehouse."
"You're on form today, aren't you?" I say. "I thought I was supposed to be the funny one."
"Really?" he asks. "I thought I was."
I'm about to list all the reasons why I'm pretty sure he's wrong as we emerge from the alley…then quickly duck back in it at the sight outside. Eclipse shuttle parked outside the blinking dot on my omni-tool map. "Shit," I mutter. "Looks like they took the initiative too."
"There goes taking a look without anyone else here," Garrus sighs, grabbing his sniper rifle and lifting the scope to look at the building. "Yeah, they're already in there." I grab my own rifle, checking through the window…and yep, there's five mercs, asari and salarians, in there, obviously digging around, from the amount of datapads and stuff I can see being discarded furiously.
"If they're here, they might be going to the other safehouses," I say, the sudden realisation hitting me as I reach to activate my radio. "Guys, we've got Eclipse mercs poking around at our location already. Just a heads up."
"We've got them here too," Melanis says a couple of seconds later. "We'll take care of it."
"They should not pose a problem," Erash says, speaking for his team.
"Same here." That's Sidonis.
"I can handle it," Mierin finally adds, sounding confident. Good. He'll probably be able to sneak through…
"I've got a plan," Garrus says, as I turn to look at the building. It's a proper house, surprisingly, since most safehouses tend to be apartments or flats…then again, property prices aren't exactly high on Omega, so I see how Eclipse can afford it. If they even paid at all. It's shaped like a cube, flat roof, obvious windows, unlocked front door. Multiple points of entry.
"That was quick," I say in surprise. "I'm not sure how much I'm going to trust a plan you took seconds thinking of."
"Tactical genius," he replies, tapping his head with a talon. "Do you think you can get up to one of those windows?
There's some obvious climbing spots there… and the windows on the upper floors are pretty low, so it shouldn't be a struggle. "Sure. Why?"
"You get in behind them, and I'll snipe one through the window. That'll turn their attention out here. Basic pincer movement."
"Sometimes the simple plans are the best," I nod. "We can clear them out, then start looking for evidence."
"That's the idea," Garrus nods, bringing up his rifle. "I'll wait for your signal."
Alright, here we go…I sprint onto the street, activating my tactical cloak to shield me from any eyes peeking out of the window as I quickly cover the short distance to the house an materialise at the east side of it. There's a drainpipe on the side, so I can just use that to climb up and hop to the ledge from –
The sound of a shuttle descending outside causes me to suddenly press my back against the wall and draw my pistol in one motion, crouching to try and make myself hidden. More Eclipse, maybe? I slowly edge along the wall, making sure I'm out of any line of sight as I peek around. The logo I'm seeing on the cruiser makes me sigh with frustration, as do the krogan and vorcha climbing out of it, weaponry trained on the front of the house. Of all the luck…
All it takes is one overly-zealous vorcha firing a pistol shot, when suddenly the quiet street becomes a battleground. Assault rifle fire bursts out from the safehouse window, pushing the krogan and vorcha behind their shuttle for cover as they blind-fire back. For fuck's sake, the Blood Pack just hadto be here, didn't they?
"I think taking a look around without any interruption just went out the window," I say, hiding myself around the corner again as I lift a hand to my ear. "Ideas?"
"You can still get in there," Garrus insists. "If Eclipse have been digging around already, they might have found what ever we need."
"They're not going to take kindly to me being in there," I point out. "And as soon as they're all dead, the Blood Pack are going to burst in. I can't take a krogan and that many vorcha, as much as I wish I could."
"Then you're not going to have long to look for evidence," Garrus replies. "Better move fast."
"Easy for you to say, sitting back with the sniper rifle."
"Riiight. Like you've never done that before."
"Gimme a few minutes," I sigh, ending the call and looking back up at the window. Alright, just got to move onto the drainpipe…I grab hold, pleased with how firmly attached it is as I pull myself on and scramble up so I'm parallel with the window ledge. It's only a metre or so away, letting me reach out one hand then push both feet off the pipe towards the ledge. I grab it with one hand, then use the other to correct my swinging motion as I plant my feet on the wall. Now to just climb in, and –
The sight of an assault rifle barrel emerging from above makes me duck my head in panic, as a salarian's head follows it…thankfully looking out over the street, rather than me hanging below him. He must be trying to get a better angle on the Blood Pack mercs, the cunning bastard. Still, only a matter of time before he looks down, so…
I pull myself up with one arm, grabbing him with the other by the collar of his armour before he can react, then yank him towards the window and down. He tips over it as I move out of the way of his fall, and the salarian plummets towards the ground headfirst with a short scream…that's cut off with a short snap as he lands on his skull and his neck twists out of shape. Ouch. Well, good to see gravity's still working.
I finally vault over and into the safehouse, taking stock of my surroundings as I ready the tactical cloak. It's sparsely furnished, with a load of empty bookshelves in this room, along with one chair, a corridor leading to the bathroom to my right…and the doorway into what looks like a study ahead of me, where the remaining three Eclipse mercs are hanging out, one of them laid out on the floor, presumably killed by Blood Pack gunfire. Alright, let's make this quick.
They'll have piled up any evidence they've got in that room, so a grenade probably isn't the best idea…I quietly slip out my knife and pistol, then activate my cloak as I move into the room behind them. All three are looking out of the window, but one of the asari is hanging back a bit to reload. You're first. No helmet on them, leaving her neck completely open for my knife. God, that sounds so creepy…
I quickly jab it into the side of her neck, causing her to let out a small death gurgle that's enough to attract the attention of her salarian and asari friend. Too bad it's too late. The asari is dead before she can even turn around with a pistol shot to the head, and the salarian follows the same fate before he can even lift his rifle at me. I step back from the mess that took less than two seconds to create, lifting one corner of my mouth in a grimace at the blood stains now covering the room. I'm getting far too good at this.
The distinct sound of no weapons being fired draws me back to the situation at hand, as I hear the Blood Pack team slowly emerge from behind their cover. Gotta get looking! I practically dive at the desk the Eclipse people were using to stack stuff, flicking through datapads and other things frantically. Couple of credit chits, which I'm fairly sure aren't going to have two million on them, and a few pointless emails…shit, if there's anything here, no way am I going to find it in time.
"Get out, now!" Garrus hisses in my ear. "They're coming through thedoor!" Ah, fuck! I turn around, looking back at the window I came in through. Hopefully the other teams have a bit more luck –
"Do you hear that?" I hear a krogan voice grunt, as their footsteps stop at the bottom of the house. Bollocks, how the fuck did they hear me?
"Yessss," a vorcha hisses. "A shuttle." Eh? Another shuttle? I take a look out the window again, craning my neck up at the sky. In time to see a blue coloured vehicle descending towards the street rapidly.
"Blue Suns," I mutter. "Well, I'll be damned…"
"You're dead, Suns!" the krogan roars, and I hear a shotgun being blasted at the shuttle while a load of mercenaries pile out of it. Gotta be about eight of them…shit, this street is gonna turn into a warzone seriously quick. Still, playing them off against each other buys me some more time! I turn back to the evidence pile, flinching as I hear a bullet fly into the window frame. More crap, more crap, more crap, more – aha! About two thirds down the pile, I pick up a small business card. Private spaceport? It's kinda flimsy, but I imagine Williams is going to want to get off Omega sooner or later, considering everyone on it wants him dead. And if he's got the contact details of somewhere…that's worth looking into.
"I think I've got something," I say, checking the final bits on the table. Nothing. Ah well. "Spaceport location."
"It doesn't look like the mercs are getting anywhere soon," Garrus replies, and I peek out of the window to see them still returning fire. Looks like they're at a stalemate…plus I can see one Blue Suns merc with his fingers on his ear. Safe bet he's calling for reinforcements. The time window for slipping away is shrinking a bit…though it's gonna be entertaining to watch these guys tear each other apart. "Alright. Head out here, and we'll rendezvous where I was when I left."
"On my way." I jog out with the card, vaulting out of the window and lowering myself back down to the ground. Okay, now to get back to Garrus without being brutally murdered in the crossfire…I activate the cloak, then move, sprinting around the edge of the battle. I'm materialising by the time I reach the alley, but the mercs are too occupied with killing each other to notice me slip away towards Garrus in the relative darkness. The turian turns to face me as I approach…and I see a familiar bottle of something in his hand.
"Are you seriously drinking a Tupari?"
"Hey, I had nothing else to do," he replies indignantly. "I was expecting us to stake out the house first, so I brought one along."
"Where's mine?"
He chuckles at that. "Melanis' orders. She's in charge of your diet."
"Here's what I've got," I sigh, as I head up to him and stick the card out. Damn, Melanis manages to screw me over even when she's not around… "Everything else was useless."
"We already know that the mercenaries are watching all the spaceports, private or not," Garrus mutters. "Still, if he could use it to escape, we should look."
"You want to head over there now?" I ask.
"Scouting it out isn't a two man job," he says, shaking his head. "No. You go and help out Mierin, I'll take a look at this spaceport and see what I can find." Aww…he's ditching me. Then again, Mierin might be having bother since he's only by himself, so Garrus does have a point.
"I'll head over to him," I nod. "Keep me posted on this spaceport, okay?"
"And you keep me posted about Mierin," he replies. "Hopefully he'll find more to help us than a business card."
I shrug. "It's better than nothing." And with that, I turn and jog down the alley, Garrus' light chuckle following me as I switch the radio channel to Mierin. "Hey man, how're you holding up?"
"Blood Pack, Blue Suns and Eclipse are tearing up the street outside," he replies, sounding fairly pleased. "But I managed to slip in during the confusion."
"I'm on my way to you," I say quickly, picking up the pace at the sound of all three mercs groups killing each other in close proximity to him. "If you need to get out, I can cover you once I get there. You sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine," he says enthusiastically. "It's…exciting."
I chuckle to myself as I run. "Are you actually enjoying this?"
"There's a thrill to it," Mierin says, laughing. There's definite worry in that laugh, but the good kind. Euphoric. He's feeling under pressure…but enjoying every second of it. That's my man. "Anyway, the mercs aren't getting anywhere soon, so I've got plenty of time to look around. I'll see you here."
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," I say, grinning as I hang up and put in an extra burst of speed. Our little Mierin, getting all grown up…I feel kinda proud of him, heh.
I head onto a main street for a bit, sticking in the shadows of the buildings as I hear gunfire crack through the air from all around, echoes from the distance interspersed with the sharper, clearer sounds from nearby. Looks like all the mercs are out for the party. Wherever Williams is, he's gotta be shitting himself right about now.
That is a bit odd, though…I mean, the places we're looking at are all Eclipse warehouses, and the only way we knew to find them is because we broke into an Eclipse base. So, that means the only people who should really know about the safehouses locations is us and Eclipse…which doesn't explain how the Blue Suns and the Blood Pack both showed up like that. At roughly the same time too. Yeah, that's definitely not right…
"Garrus," I say, activating the radio as I keep moving. "Did you think about how the other two merc groups got here?"
"I was literally just thinking that," he replies immediately. Great minds think alike… "It's not like they all share intel. I guess they could have all broken into Eclipse bases too…"
"Do you really believe that?"
There's a small pause on Garrus' end. "No. I'm not too far from the safehouse…I could go back and see if I can find anything there. This spaceport lead isn't high priority."
"If you think you can take a look around back there without too much risk, do it," I reply. "Something's not adding up for me."
"Same here. Our instincts aren't usually wrong, are they?"
"Not if both of us have the same hunch."
"I'll check it out," Garrus says. "You keep going to Mierin, though."
"Hey, he sounds like he's doing well enough without me," I chuckle. "He's finally getting into this whole vigilante business."
"Beats him being nervous all the time," Garrus chuckles back. "Still, go and see him."
"I know, I know," I say, hanging up the line as I check my omni-tool map. Ten minutes to Mierin, if I keep up the pace. That should do just fine.
#############
Alright, just two more minutes. Mierin's safehouse is more in the industrial area, so I've finally been able to get back onto the rooftops and do my thing. I hit the lip of a roof, hurling myself over the relatively small gap with my arms out to keep my balance as I drop onto the surface below and roll through. The sound of gunfire is getting noticeably closer…meaning I'm getting very close indeed. Better make sure they don't spot me coming from the roof.
I look down over the edge, searching for some kind of fire escape. Every building has one, just need to drop down onto the ladder. It'll probably scare the guy hurrying along below me half to death when I jump down, but from his weight, the act of running will probably do that anyway, especially with that bag he's holding.
Wait a second.
Fat guy.
Running away from a safehouse.
With a bag.
No way…I turn my head to look at the guy, zooming in with my visor. Holy shit,it's him! Williams! My first instinct is to go for the sniper rifle and incapacitate him with a leg shot or something…but there's a risk that's gonna kill him, and if we want to make sure we get those credits, we need him alive. He's gotta take priority over Mierin. Besides, the salarian said he was fine by himself.
"Mierin, I just got distracted by something,"I say, turning back around and assessing the jump onto the roof I came from. It's a bit higher than my level…but the gap's small enough for me to grab and pull myself up on. If I climb down to street level, Williams could get away by the time I'm down there. "I think I've got a positive ID on Williams."
"Are you serious?" he asks, previously excitable tone returning. "Erm…okay, what should I do?"
"If you see an opening to get out, take it," I reply, then take a run and launch myself back at the other rooftop, grabbing hold of the edge with a grunt of effort and pulling myself up. "Looking for evidence about where he is seems a little counter-intuitive now, don't you think?"
"The street's still crowded, but I'll see what I can do," Mierin says. "Good luck." Alright, Williams just took a left onto the main street…which runs parallel to my roof, meaning I can follow him without too much bother. As soon as I see a way down, he's mine.
"Hey," Garrus says, hailing me over the radio, "I managed to swipe a datapad off that krogan the Blood Pack sent in."
"Kinda busy right now," I mutter back.
"According to this, the reason they were here is because someone gave them an anonymous tipoff that Williams was using this safehouse," he says, continuing unabated.
"They were probably after some of the money," I reply. "Is there a point to this, because I'm following -"
"But think about it," Garrus adds. "I mean, one tip off, that might be understandable. But the Blue Suns and Blood Pack arrived at each safehouse, at the same time. Whoever gave them the tipoff on our safehouse must have done the same for all the other ones. And the only people who know about the safehouses are us, Eclipse, and…"
"Williams himself," I finish, staring down at the fat man below me. Who's now stopped, and is reaching into the bag. Oh, I'm not getting a good feeling from this, at all. Why would he want every merc group tearing apart safehouses at the same time looking for him? Possibly getting them to kill each other, sure, but there has to be more. Some way to really cause havoc.
My mind rushes to a conclusion, just as Williams pulls the detonator out of his bag.
"Everyone, get the hell out of the safehouses!" I yell down the mic…then stagger back from the sound of an explosion, air lit up bright as a plume of flame erupts from the safehouse I was just running to before.
Mierin. Oh, shit.
"All teams, status report, now!" Garrus snaps. Williams is already running again, as a quick look back shows me, but I'm still staring at Mierin's safehouse in shock. If I go back to check on him, I'll lose Williams…but I can't just leave him there, right?
"You didnae say there'd be explosions, Garrus!" Butler replies quickly. "Melanis and I were already on our way out when it went off."
"We were already on our way back to base," Sidonis says. "Grundan's fine too."
"And we were still working out the best way in," Weaver adds for him and Erash. "I suppose that's pointless now."
A silence descends upon the frequency. "Mierin?" I finally ask. No reply. There's still a signal from his suit, I can see it from my HUD on the visor…but he's not talking. Fuck Williams, he comes first. "I'm going to find him. I just spotted Williams in my area, heading south-east." I turn around, breaking into a full sprint as I move towards the fire escape on this building.
"That's towards the spaceport we found out about," Garrus gasps, as I throw myself onto the ladder and slide down, using the edges to control my descent. "I'll send the co-ordinates to your omni-tools, move to intercept him!"
The squad all work out approach tactics and where best to try and cut off Williams, but I'm barely listening as I pound towards the safehouse as soon as I touch the ground. It's in flames, windows all blown out and smoke pouring out as I charge across the street the merc groups were using as a battleground. They've been knocked about by the explosion, and no-one's in a fit state to try and fight me as I sprint through the middle, opening the door to the building and diving straight in.
If I wasn't wearing a helmet, the smoke inhalation would probably have killed me in seconds. The whole house is ablaze, the cheap panelling used as the floor managing to catch alight along with the furniture in the room I'm in. Materials are supposed to avoid things like this happening…but in the cheaper houses, builders still use cheaper materials to make things. Cheap materials aren't fireproof. And this whole house is created from them. Shit, it could collapse…
"Mierin!" I bellow, shielding myself from the heat that I can feel even though the armour as I dash across the living room and towards the stairs. I'm barely make it under the arched doorway leading into the main hall with the stairs, when it suddenly collapses behind me, the whole wall collapsing in flames and throwing up a huge cloud of ash at me. When it clears, I can see the rubble in flames, and blocking the front door. Fuck, not getting out that way…
The stairs feel far too wobbly as I move up them, fire taking its toll, but they hold as I move into the upstairs area. Whatever explosives Williams used, they were incendiaries, rather than your regular explosives…which means Mierin could still be alive. "Where are you?" I shout, moving through a room decorated with a lovely flaming chair and wilted flower as I stare into a windowless study…and there he is. Mierin, laid on the floor…but from the rise and fall of his chest from under the armour, still breathing. Thank Christ.
"Hey, you alright?" I say, dropping to my knees and rolling him over, the movement causing the salarian to shake his head as his helmet stares up at me. "Come on, this place is gonna come down any second!"
"I don't…" Mierin gasps, still obviously trying to clear his head as he sits up. "What happened?"
"Williams set off a bomb, blah blah blah, now isn't the time to explain," I say frantically, helping Mierin to his feet. A glance back in the corridor shows the stairs now on fire. FUCK. There's a window on the other side of the house, about ten metres away…we should be able to make that. "Can you move?"
"I'm fine," Mierin nods. "Just a bit dazed."
"That'll have to do," I mutter, turning around as he finally rights himself and jogging out into the hallway again to head for the window. I feel the floor bucking as soon as I walk out again, floor literally tensing under my steps as I move towards the window. Another step, and it flexes even more. Fuck, this is gonna break! I take a third step…and with a horrible wrenching sound, a whole five metre long section of floor falls.
Shit! I'm already halfway across, the sound and feeling under my feet alerting me enough to dive forward and onto a safe patch of ground near the window, staring down at the floor below. It's basically become an inferno, the whole placed with flames that lick up, seemingly reaching for me, hoping to drag me into their embrace. Mierin's still standing in the study, staring at the gap in shock as he stands in the doorway.
"The whole floor's gonna fall!" I yell at him, moving as close to the edge as I can and holding out an arm. "Jump, I'll catch you!"
Mierin stands nervously at the edge of the study…and I can see the floor under his feet beginning to smoke from the heat. Shit, going to have to encourage him into this. "Remember what you said before, Mierin? About this being exciting?" He nods his head, still looking scared. "Well, this is all part of it, yeah? I've got you." Mierin keeps staring at me. "You scared?"
"Terrified," he shouts back, voice trembling. "But I can do this. Are you ready?"
Bollocks, I can see the floor threatening to snap under him anyway. "Jump!" I shout. With a mad cry, Mierin hurls himself forwards, diving towards my hand. I watch him arc through the air, peaking two metres away from me…before he starts to drop, and the salarian plummets towards the ground headfirst with a short scream…that's cut off with a short snap as he lands on his skull and his neck twists out of shape.
.
.
.
.
I'm left staring at my hand, then down at him, shock leaving me unable to move as I stare down at the unmoving salarian. "Mierin," I whisper, then it turns into a shout, repeating over and over. No sign of movement, as the fire spreads to him, and the floor under me jolts once again, dragging me back to reality. Get out. I have to get out. I spring to my feet, turning to face the window as I dash towards it and try to open it. Locked, shit! I pull out my handgun, putting three bullets into it, then punch as hard as I can, my fist shattering through the glass. I jump up and out, horrendous tearing noise of the floor giving away following me as I drop and land heavily on my hands and feet.
I've got no choice but to sprint away, as one of the outer walls collapses in on itself, and I keep running until I reach the relative safety of an alleyway, away from any mercenary reinforcements, away from…that place. I lower my helmet, coughing into the filthy Omega air with whatever bits of smoke managed to get into my system, as the fire rages on in the distance. With Mierin's corpse still inside. "Shit…" I mutter under my breath, leaning on the alley wall as I stare. One little jump, one thing…and he's dead. No saying goodbye, no comforting him, just the cold, hard truth that his life ended. I keep expecting him to walk out of the ruined building, burned and coughing but alive…but he's not. He didn't deserve this. No-one does, but…especially not him.
Williams killed him to save his own skin. Instead of the sadness I was expecting…I just feel anger. Real, pure anger. That bastard just jogged away when he condemned Mierin to death. Fuck the two million credits, fuck damaging the mercs, he is gonna pay for what he did.
I take one last look at the building, closing my eyes…then open them, looking at the blinking point on my map showing Williams' spaceport.
He's a fucking dead man.
A/N: Hey, I know some people have been saying the story is a little bit doom and gloomy at the moment, so this is just me letting you know that I'm gonna try and cheer things up for y'all soon. But this chapter has been coming for a while now, so...yeah, things will get happier. Just a heads up.
Anyway, we finish up the case against Williams next chapter. It'll be a good one.
I don't want to make the A/N overly long after what just happened there, so...thanks for reading, reviewing, and I'll see you next chapter. Peace.
