Salvation: Episode I - The Taking of the Carmenta Illustria
Disclaimer: This fan-fiction is part of an episodic series taking place after Salvation: A Half-Life/Mass Effect Universe Fan Fiction, which will lead directly to its sequel, Salvation II: Project Prometheus. These episodes and sequel take place OUTSIDE of the Mass Effect 3 continuity. Characters property of their respective companies, Half-Life created by Valve and Mass Effect created by Bioware.
Chapter 36: Battle for the Illustria (Part I)
The Fog Of War
[ALERT! ALERT! FIRE DETECTED ON THE PROMENADE DECK.]
A red, flashing indicator informed on the bridge's primary control panel, as Leahr'Haan folded his laptop shut. He looked up at the ominous, red flashing light, as he finished gathering a few final things, seemingly in preparation for departure.
"Not my problem anymore…" He muttered to himself, with a shake of his head, as he gathered everything, and stood up. He turned around, and made for the exit, where he was promptly met by the two newly stationed guards there.
"Where do you think you're going?" One of the two human officers demanded, with a notable tone of condescension in his voice.
"I am leaving." Leahr'Haan adamantly put forth, without hesitation. "Kindly stand aside, and let me pass."
"Heh, you're not going anywhere, suit rat." The second officer chimed in, with a scoffing chuckle. "Our orders to keep an eye on you, and make sure you stay put."
"Look…" Leahr started to explain, with a sigh. "All I wanna do is get outta here. The ship is on VI auto-pilot. The course is set, and the relay coordinates are all entered in. It won't stop until it reaches and passes through the relay, no matter what. You don't need me anymore." He reasoned, with a pleading shake of his head, and shrug of his shoulders. "Please, just let me pass. I don't wanna have to kill you."
"Ahah!" The darker haired human officer exhaled a jeering laugh, as his eyes opened wide with amazement. "You - you're gonna kill us?" He asked, with a clear timbre of skepticism. "And just how you gonna do that, buckethead?"
"With this." The quarian asserted, as he held up his folded laptop. "A few minutes ago I sent a recall order to every last mech on-board this ship. They're all heading up here right now, with one standing command - kill anyone and everyone on this deck, that isn't me."
"Bullshit…!" The same officer refuted, in disbelief, as a sudden paleness washed over his face, removing any sense of mockery or jest. "You're bluffing!"
"See for yourself…"
Without taking his eyes off the quarian, the darker haired officer drew his weapon, and backed away towards the door. He pressed his hand against the door panel, causing it to slide open. As soon as it did, the sound was undeniable… The metallic stomp of dozens of armed cybernetic soldiers converging on their location, from every hall down the way. The officer leaned out, just enough for a glimpse and any shred of doubt dissipated right then and there, as he could make out encroaching squadrons marching on, in the distance.
"Shit!" He exclaimed, as he ran back into the room, with his gun aimed at the quarian's head. "He's telling the truth. They're coming…" He informed his lighter-hair partner, coaxing him too to pull his sidearm from his hip, and aim it menacingly. "Call 'em off! Shut 'em down!"
"Of course-" Leahr'Haan calmly acknowledged. "But only after I've passed safely through that door."
"Fucking quarian!" The second, lighter haired officer snarled, with his unsteady gun starting to quiver in his hands. "Shut 'em down or we'll kill you!"
"Go ahead!" Leahr snapped back. "But I'm the only one who CAN shut 'em down. If you kill me, they'll all still be coming to kill you too."
"Mrrr…" The dark-haired guard growled under his breath, as he looked back and forth between the opened door, and the quarian. Just then, he made a decision, as he lowered his weapon, and suddenly lunged towards the quarian. "Rargh, gimme that!" He snarled, as he ripped the quarian's laptop out of his hands. He rushed over to a nearby console, set the laptop down, and opened it up.
"Even if you did possess the knowledge or skill to break through my encryptions-" Leahr chimed in, as the desperate officer began aimlessly punching away at the keys, in a panicked fervor. "-which I seriously doubt you do; it would take you hours. And I doubt you have more than a few minutes. Maybe seconds, at this point…"
The amber-haired officer, who still held his weapon in Leahr's face, clenched his teeth and showcased a scornful glare. "Shut 'em down, god damn it!" He demanded, in a voice that was more piteous than it was commanding.
"You know what you have to do!" Leahr immovably insisted. "As soon as I'm out that door, I promise you I will deactivate them. But you're running out of time."
Just then, coming as a surprise to all in the room, the ceiling itself began to tremble. Leahr and the guards all raised their heads and began looking around, as a strange, rumbling sound could be heard, seemingly emanating from one of the air conditioning vents in the ceiling. This wasn't caused by the onslaught of oncoming mechs, no - though their steady approach could still be heard. This was something different. All of a sudden, a brilliant blue flash of light beamed out between the gaps of the ceiling grate, and PANG! The grate itself exploded off, onto the floor.
"What the hell?!" The darker-haired officer exclaimed, in shock, as he aimed his gun up, at the exposed, shadowy hole. "What're you doing now? What was that?!"
"Uh, th-that's not me!" Leahr affirmed, as he too looked up in congruent shock. "I-I had nothing to do with that!"
Suddenly, a pair of alabaster skinned legs swung out of the dark recess, quickly becoming the slim figure of a woman in a red dress, as she dropped out of the ceiling, landing on the bridge floor, with a light thump.
"Well…" Miranda coyly greeted, with a vain smile on her face - steadying herself as a lavender veiled quarian woman dropped out of the hole, beside her. "Which one of you boys is gonna buy us ladies a drink, hmm?" She asked, with a pouty-lipped smirk, as she raised a brash eyebrow.
"...what the?" The dark hair officer muttered under his breath, in perplexed befuddlement, as he furrowed his brow. Before he could make any kind of sense of the situation, his flawed instincts coaxed him to give a shake of his head, as he began to turn his weapon on the two women.
"Ah-ah-ah…!" Miranda brazenly refuted, shaking her own head, as her hands lit up with a brilliant cerulean flame. She cocked her arms back before immediately driving them forward, unleashing a powerful tidal wave of pure biotic energy.
"Keelah!" Leahr cried out, in a panic, as he instinctively grabbed his laptop and dove to the side, out of the shockwave's path.
The surging billow of energy swept across the floor, scooping the two human blackguards up, of their feet, with it. "Huah!" "Ugh!" The two officers grunted, as they were slammed against the unforgiving wall, with brutal, bone crushing force, like a pair of flies under a fly swatter. Their weapons dislodged, flying out of their hands, as they dropped motionlessly to the floor.
"That wasn't very gentleman-like of them." Tali cynically added, with her sub-machine gun drawn, but aimed idly at the floor.
"I must've come on too strong." Miranda playfully admitted.
Just then, like a mouse peeking out of a hole in the wall to see if it's safe, someone began to stir, from behind one of the inert consoles.
Tali's armed hand shot up, and Miranda's hands lit up, like electric conduits once more, as both aimed their arsenals in the direction of the movement.
"You…" Tali uttered, with a stunned gasp, as she looked on at the veiled and helmeted figure cowering behind the console. "You're a quarian!" She exclaimed, as she lowered her weapon, and marched over to the timid figure, in a huff. "YOU'RE behind this?!" She demanded, as she grabbed a fistful of his veil from under his chin, and dragged him to his feet.
"No, no, wait! Please, don't kill me!" He begged and pleaded, trembling in her grip, as he held two shaking hands up at his sides. "I can explain!"
"How can you-" Tali began to question, with a brooding sense of detest and disgust ringing in her voice. "-one of our own people, be involved in something like this?!"
"Tali!" Miranda's dire voice suddenly caught her attention. She turned for a corner-of-her-eye glance at the operative in the red dress, who stood leaning halfway out of the opened doorway.
"We've got in-coming!" The porcelain skinned woman supplemented, as she retreated back into the room, with her hands lit up like torches. "Mechs, and lots of 'em!"
"How many?!"
"All of them, I think!"
"Yes…!" Leahr was quick to interject, causing Tali to snap her head back towards him, with an evil glare burning through her mask. "They're all coming, and they'll kill everyone in this room that isn't me! But I can stop them! I'll shut them down if you let me go… Please!"
Tali stood silent for a moment, as the foreboding clamor of dozens of heavy-metal stomps grew louder and louder, as the legion of automatic killing machines drew closer and closer. Just then, she made a choice.
"Umph-ack!" Leahr grunted in agony, as Tali rammed her tightly balled fist into his gut, leaving him huddled over in pain, before she slammed him hard, back first, against the console which had sheltered him.
With Leahr'Haan nullified, Tali checked her SMG, making sure it was combat ready, as she took her place, facing down the opened doorway, beside Miranda.
"What a vacation this turned out to be…" She muttered, with a groaning sigh - raising her weapon, and taking aim, as the first of many metal figures turned into the room.
POW! POW! POW!
After fully smothering the flames, the thick jet's from the ship's fire suppression system had finally stopped, leaving the entire Promenade Deck saturated with an ashen, murky haze. Like a thick London Fog, an eclipsing mixture of mist and smoke blanket the room, creating a silver cloak that no naked eye could penetrate. A thousand scared voices wailed in panic and disarray, amidst a raucous of aimless gunfire.
"Simmons?! Is that you?!" A disoriented officer called out, standing at the center of a cloudy world, as he watched dark silhouettes dance all around him. Friend or foe was anyone's guess. "Simmons?!" He yelled out again, as a shadowy figured disappeared into the distance. There he stood alone, frantically looking in all directions, like a lost and frightened child, in the middle of the woods. Suddenly… "UMPH!" He cried out, in pain, as he felt something plow into his spine with the force of a big rig truck, sending him crashing to the ground, face first. As he rolled over, the last thing he saw was the foot of a large, powerful turian, stomp down on his face. Just then, a flash of red! And a fade to black…
"Sorry. Not Simmons." Garrus coyly remarked, as he looked down at the felled officer. Just then, he spotted a beguiling twinkle of silver on his belt. The twinkle of a handcuff key. Garrus squatted down at the guard's side, and awkwardly began attempting to maneuver his restrained hands, so as to retrieve the liberating key. At that moment, he spotted an all too familiar orb of light, piercing the shadowy veil, like a lighthouse over a misty shore.
"Legion!" Garrus called out, shooting back up to his feet. The amiable machine wasted no time in heeding the allied turian's call - his light growing brighter and brighter as he approached, before his full silvery aspect became visible.
"Thank the spirits for that bright face of yours!" Garrus declared, as he greeted the geth. "Listen, do you think you can get the key off of this guy?" He asked, as he looked down at the motionless aggressor. "I've got the reach, just… Not the flexibility."
A few panels motored back and forth atop Legion's head, as he seemingly built a consensus. Just then, without any further computations, the powerful machine flung his hands apart, from behind his back - snapping the binding links in the chain, as if they were paperclips. With his hands now free, he quickly stepped around behind Garrus' as the turian's mouth dropped like a drawbridge.
"YOU MEAN TO TELL ME YOU COULD'VE DONE THAT AT ANY TIME?!" The astonished turian demanded, as he felt Legion take hold of the chain binding his cuffs together. Just then, SNAP! He felt his hands come apart, as Legion disposed of the links with ease.
"Affirmative." Legion acknowledged.
"Ugh…!" Garrus groaned, with a mixture of annoyance and relief, as he drew his arms forward, massaging his wrists, and rotating and stretching his stiff, kinked shoulders. "Well then, don't just stand there, you big tin can! Go help the others!" He urged, with his finger pointed out, into the fog, as he bent down to relieve the fallen officer of the weapon laying next to him. "We gotta take back this ship! I'll go and see about setting up some sort of fortification!"
"Hey!" An eager voice suddenly yelled out, as another uniformed figure suddenly came into view.
"Hey! Hey, Mr. Vakarian! It's me, Zee!" The former Illustria Officer fervently made himself known, as he ran up to Garrus and Legion with his hands locked behind his back. "Hey, get me out of this! I'll help you guys!"
Legion looked up at Garrus for instruction, with what could only be interrupted as his version of a look of suspicion. After a brief deliberation, Garrus acquiesced, with a nod of his head. Legion quickly obliged, moving behind the ardent young turian, and breaking him free.
"Oh, thanks!" Zee gratefully bestowed, as he rubbed his sore wrists.
"Kid, listen to me!" Garrus sternly ordered, as Legion quickly turned and disappeared into to fog to render his assistance elsewhere. "Take this key." He explained, pointing down at the twinkling key on the downed officer's belt. "Find Shepard and Freeman - the two humans that came in here a while ago, the ones that started the fire - and set 'em free!"
"Got it!" Zee affirmed, as he bent down, and unhooked the key from the sprawled out guard's belt loop. As he stood back up, key in hand, he looked around, seeing nothing but cloudy haze and obscure shadows in every direction.
"Wait, how am I supposed to find 'em in this?!" He implored.
"You'll find 'em!" Garrus yelled back, as he rushed away, disappearing into the gloom. "Just follow the screams!"
Zee sighed, shook his head, and rolled his eyes, as he turned and cut through the smog, in the opposite direction.
In the midsts of the dismal shroud, two armed, and noticeably nervous officers slowly approached each other, without even realizing it. Both guards, a turian and a salarian, warily walked in reverse, with their weapons aimed into the cloudy veil. Like something out of a horror movie, they could make out shadows and silhouettes moving in the distance, but whether the shapes were friend or foe to them was anyone's guess. Suddenly, they jumped! "Huh?!" They each shouted, spinning about, as the feel of something pressing against their backs thrilled them, and filled them with fright.
"No, wait!" The salarian was the first to cry out, as he raised his hands up, amiably. "Don't shoot! It's me! It's me!"
The turian, previously holding a trembling sidearm aimed at the salarian's heart exhaled a sigh of relief, as he lowered his weapon. "Spirits…" He said, with a huff, as he huddled over, with one hand clutching his heart. "I thought you were one of them…!"
"No, it's just me." The salarian blackguard assured, as he took a quick look around. "But what the hell happened? I was on patrol around the promenade, and the next thing i knew, the ship's fire suppression system had kicked in."
"It was Shepard, and that other human!" The affronted turian barked, quickly growing irate, as he stood up straight, with an angry sneer. "Kicked over one of the braziers and started a fire to cover their escape. Come on…" He supplicated, with a subtle nod of his head. "They were unarmed and still cuffed. Let's go find 'em, and put a bullet in their brain pans!"
"Sounds like a plan…!" The salarian agreed, with a sinister gleam in his eye.
Just then, the sudden sensation of someone watching overtook them both, as they thought they could hear footsteps approaching from the carpeted floor. The turian and salarian both turned about and raised their weapons at a new figure that had appeared in the haze.
"Hey, whoa! Whoa!" The silhouette of a tall, strapping turian beseeched, as he raised his hands up over his head, one of which was armed with a standard issue pistol. "Easy guys. Don't shoot, it's me! It's me!" He assured.
Although unable to immediately recognize the faceless figure shrouded by the fog, both officers exhaled a sigh with marked relief, as they sanguinely lowered their weapons without hesitation.
As soon as their hands were down, the figure buried in the cloud suddenly drew his own weapon forward, and POW! POW! Two skillful shots - one for each one of their own brain pans. As they collapsed onto the floor, Garrus stepped out of the veil, smoking gun in hand. He looked down, and shook his head with a pitied look in his eye. "Well, I never said I wasn't gonna shoot YOU." He shrugged.
Somewhere nearby, a nimble salarian dove into a somersault, after having pacified a previous target. He combat rolled to the feet of a nearby asari officer, before immediately unfolding himself into a double-heel kick, which was potently delivered straight into her chest. Following this, a third officer, a fellow salarian, charged up from behind, only to have his legs painfully taken out from under him, as the restrained prisoner swiveled himself around, on one knee, like the spinning blade of a lawnmower. The assailing captive then shot to his feet, finishing the deed with a sharp kick to his felled opponents temple and a devastating stomp to the throat.
"Hmph!" Grunt scoffed under his breath, as he looked on, while in much the same confined condition as Mordin. "Not bad, salarian." He muttered. "But let me show you how it's supposed to be done!" He panned his gaze around, as Mordin shook his head and rolled his eyes. Just then, much to his satisfaction, he spotted a trio of silhouettes mired by the fog, lost in the grip of confusion. They were identifiable as the Illustria's own security lackeys by the outline of the pistols in their hands, and the faint glimmer of gold from the badges pinned on their chests, shining through the haze.
"Mmmmmrrrr…" He snorted and growled, like an ornery alligator, as he bowed his head. At that moment… "I. AM. KROGAN!" His echoing warcry ripped throughout the deck, as he blitz forth, like an angry bull after a matador's cape. He blazed a clear path through smokey scene, eventually disappearing into it himself, becoming nothing more than a blotchy shadow - a blotchy shadow that immediately plowed through an assembly of officers, who went down like pins before a bowling ball.
Mordin sighed. "Barbaric and predictable!" He grumbled into a shout, as he watched Grunt's shadow chasing after the fleeing and scurrying officers who scrambled to get away, like mice from a cat. "No finesse, no fluidity! Far too crude and ungainly!"
"Solus, Doctor." He then heard a familiar metallic voice address him, from behind. When he turned around, it was no surprise to find a nearly blinding, luminescent ray shining in his face. "Are you unharmed?"
"Ah, Legion." Mordin amicably greeted, with a reassuring nod. "Yes. Quite unscathed. Though, far from soulless." He replied, tongue-in-cheek. "Have taken many lives, but saved many more…" He grinned.
"Acknowledged." Legion replied with the usual monotonous indifference, as he made his way around, behind the salarian scientist. "Please remain stationary. We shall liberate you."
Mordin felt Legion take hold of the chains between his cuffs, and with one, powerful jerking motion, he heard the links snap, as he was suddenly able to separate his arms again.
"Ahhh…" Mordin sighed, in relief, as he stretched his neck, and freely rotated his arms and shoulders. "Many thanks. Quite the alleviation."
"Did you see that, Solus?!" Grunt's bellowing voice suddenly demanded, as he returned from the fray, with several new splotches of blood staining his outfit. "Hope you were taking notes, cuz-" He paused for a moment, when he noticed both Mordin and the geth now free of their restraints. "Hey, how'd you two get free?!"
"Legion." Mordin disclosed, rubbing his wrists, where the metallic bracelets still hung. "Powerful pneumatic actuators in a geth can prove quite useful during times of contention."
"That's nothing! If he can break these brittle things, then so can I!" Grunt proudly declared, as he suddenly grit his teeth, scrunched his face into a determined grimace, and began trying to pry his arms apart. "HNNNGGHH!" He groaned and heaved, as he balled his hands into fist, and mustered every ounce of his own considerable strength, in a so far fruitless effort to separate them. "RRRRGGH!" He growled, as he continued trying to break his bonds. The very force he exerted caused him to tremble, as the metallic cuffs began to chafe his wrists, and cut down into his thick leathery skin. But it was clearly to no avail, as he watched Legion approaching, through his squinted eyes. "I don't need your help, geth!" The arrogant young krogan proclaimed, in a pained, throaty voice - refusing to give up.
"Statement rejected." Legion affirmed, as he took hold of the chain, and snapped it in twain, without a second thought or computation. Finding himself freed, Grunt turned around, and began rubbing his now emancipated wrists, as he shook his head, and stared at Legion with a look surmised of both gratitude and distaste.
"Time is limited." The flashlight-faced mech asserted. "We must operate expeditiously, and reconvene with the others." He said, as he turned his head and panned his gaze across the smog-filled room, as if being able to see right through it. Which must've been the case, as after a momentary scan of the room's layout, he turned, and marched away.
In another nearby section of the room, a salarian officer's sidearm flew across the room, after having had it kicked out of his hands. Relying purely on kicks and assailing shoulder-blocks, Jacob charged the salarian, driving him off his feet, and slamming him down to the ground. As the dizzied officer looked up, the last thing he saw was a knee drop down on him, like an anvil, as Jacob genuflected onto the inept officer's face, with an immense amount of force.
As Jacob stood back up. He took a fleeting glance down at the laid out officer to make sure he was no longer moving. But as he admired his handiwork, he never noticed a second blackguard malefactor sneakily taking aim at his back.
With Jacob caught dead in his crosshairs, his finger wrapped around the trigger, and began to tighten.
"Hyeah!" A loud scream tore throughout the deck, as a woman wrapped in a towel and sportcoat ensemble leapt forth, out of the shadowy haze. She had somehow managed to maneuver her handcuffed hands from behind her back, to the front of her body. And utilizing a rowing motion with the cuffs themselves, she wrapped the linked chain, around the officer's wrist - tying him up, as she jammed her finger behind the trigger, blocking any possible shots.
"Ngh, what the?!" The salarian muttered as he tried to pull free, or discharge his weapon; finding his feeble attempt futile in both respects. With the salarian essential at her mercy, she cocked her right leg back, before slamming it straight into his gut, like a punter kicking a field goal.
"AUUGHH!"
Jacob spun around, alarmed, as he heard the anguished wail, only to spot Vanessa laying on the ground, with her legs crossed over a salarian guards face. She was wrenching back on his arm and shoulder, trying to hyperextend it, as the officer tried to pry her legs off his throat. "ARGH! UGH!" The salarian cried and bellowed in agony, as struggled to break free. Finding the girlish screams annoying, Vanessa raised her heel, and dropped it back down, like a hammer, onto the salarian's face, silencing him for the time being.
"Vanessa?!" Was all Jacob could verbally muster - dashing over to her, as she stood back up, and proceeded to dust herself.
"I got your six." She said to him, with a sly wink, as her eyes wandered down to his chest and below. "After all, it'd be a crime to defile such a gorgeous six." She muttered, lasciviously.
"Heh, you are one crazy lady…" He let out, with a laugh. "But I like that you can keep me on my feet. Maybe when we get outta here, we can-"
"Hey!" An angry shout reached their ears, cutting Jacob off, as a human guard burst out of the fog, with his weapon raised.
POW!
"Look out!" Jacob screamed, diving against Vanessa, shoving her out of harm's way, with the blunt of his shoulder, as the lone gunshot rang out. In the instant following the muzzle flash, Jacob very plainly heard the hiss of the round piercing the air, as it zoomed right by his head. Without a single wasted motion, Jacob blitzed forward, moving left to right, in a winding, serpentine motion, preventing the amatuer officer to draw a lock on him.
POW! POW! "HUMPH!" The guard got off a pair of wild shots, striking nothing but the wall and floor, before grunting and expelling the air in his lungs, as a result of a hard heel kick to his chest. The inept human officer flew to the floor, as Jacob felt the tug of something on his arm, steadying him and keeping him from falling to the floor from his own inertia.
Jacob turned, and much to his delight, he was met with bejeweled eyes of amethyst, belonging to the mysteriously intriguing brunette, Vanessa.
"As much as I wish we could, maybe now isn't the best time for us to share a 'romantic moment...'". Vanessa disclosed, with an uneasy chuckle, and the glint of a mildly nervous sweat on her forehead.
"Ah-Hah!" Jacob exclaimed, triumphantly. "So you do admit, you're falling for my rugged and boyish charms…" He said, shooting a slick, and toothy grin her way, that one might swear gleamed with a twinkle.
The only response he got, however, was Vanessa suddenly and unexpectedly, pushing down on the back of his head, forcing him into a duck, as another stray bullet, from an unseen shooter, whizzed by their heads.
"Okay… You may have a point." Jacob admitted, as the two stayed hunkered down low. "We'll get outta here alive first, and THEN discuss the possibility of a date…!"
Vanessa merely chuckled under her breath, as the rampant sound of hellfire blared on. Just then, from out of the haze, she noticed a single, bright beam of light bearing down on them.
"Wait, what is that?!" Vanessa beckoned, pointing at the piercing light, with a profound sense of concern in her voice.
Jacob squinted, trying to discern the source of the luminance for himself, when his eyes suddenly flew eyed, with surprise and delight. "Legion!"
"Dr. Freeman...?! Doctor Freeman, where are you?!" An anxious, blonde-haired woman cried out from the center of the haze. "Commander?! Doctor Freeman?! Is ANYONE there?! HELLO!"
"Hello…" A malicious voice unexpectedly greeted from over her shoulder, as the blonde-haired reporter felt herself back up into something.
Cameron gasped, as she dashed forward, and spun herself around to face the owner of the voice. The visage of a tall turian manifested itself before her, as his masculine frame stepped out of the shadowy veil. She recognized him almost immediately, by the his swollen nose and the bleeding welt on his face, as the sleazy, covetous turian who felt her up a few minutes earlier.
"Oh no…" Cameron uttered, with a fearful gasp and a gulp, as she slowly backed away, wriggling her cuffed hands around helplessly, behind her back. "Not you again… Wh-what are you gonna do to me…?!"
"You know…" The lusty-eyed turian began, keeping pace with her like a depraved stalker, as she backed away. "I've always loved the taste of human women…" He disclosed, as he lewdly licked his mouth. "I didn't get to finish with you earlier, and it don't look like your boyfriend Shepard's here to save you this time…!"
As the reprehensible scofflaw continued to creep upon the attractive young woman, looking to fulfill his own base desires, another Illustria Officer started to stir nearby.
"Uggghh…!" The Security Commander, donned in a sturdy, armored chestplate, groaned as he sat up, off the floor. As he returned to consciousness, and his eyes re-opened to a murky, gray world, a throbbing pain shot through his jaw. He cringed a bit, as he sat upright, and gripped his jaw, shifting it from side to side, making sure it wasn't broken. That's when he noticed the two silhouettes passing by in front of him - one of which was in pursuit of the other.
"Please, just… Just leave me alone!" Cameron pleaded for mercy, with her head tucked timidly between her shoulders, like a fearful child. "The truth is, Commander Shepard isn't even my- HUMPH!" She grunted, with a fury, cutting herself off as she suddenly and unexpectedly lunged forward, driving a rigid knee straight into his manhood.
"HUUNNNNNNNGGGGGGHHHH…" The turian raled like a dying animal, as he crossed his eyes, and his legs, cupped the afflicted area with his hands, and dropped to his knees. "OOOH YOU FUCKING BIT-OOF!" Before he could finish spitting out the disparaging term, Cameron followed up with hardest high knee she could muster, straight into his face - shattering the bridge of his nose and finishing what Shepard started.
"Hah!" She whooped in triumph, as she watched him laxly fall over onto his back. "Not so tough now, are ya?!" Just then, she glanced down and spotted the beguiling glimmer of a silvery handcuff key on his belt. "Oooh, hmmm…" She muttered to herself, as she first tried bending over forward to retrieve it. Quickly realizing this would be a fruitless attempt, she stood back up and instead turned herself around, giving her back to the officer. She awkwardly tried hunching over backwards, or squatting down, but each of these attempts proved futile, as the enticing key remained mockingly out of reach. Frustrated, Cameron plopped herself down to the floor, landing seated on her buttocks, at the motionless scoundrel's side.
"Argh, come on!" She huffed to herself, as she leaned back onto him, stretching her hands behind her, and feeling around his belt for the key. She continued to recline further and further back until… "A-ha!" She declared, as she took hold of the key, and unfastened the clasping hook with her thumb. Now, with the key loosely in her grip, began the burdensome task of finding the keyhole on her cuff. The tip of her tongue stuck, unconsciously, out of the left corner of her mouth, as she fixated on getting the key in the hole - an endeavor that culminated with a satisfying sound. Click!
"Ahhh…" Cameron sighed with jubilation, as she was suddenly able to pull her arms apart, and bring them around in front of her, with the opened cuff still hanging off of her left wrist. She wasted no time in propping herself back up off the ground, and unlocking the other cuff, allowing it drop uselessly to the ground.
"Well, that wasn't so hard!" She proclaimed, pleased with herself, as she glanced back down at the recumbent miscreant. Just then, she spotted the abdicated handgun laying at the guard's side. After a momentary hesitation, she bent down to retrieve it.
"Hmph…" She muttered arrogantly, as she stood back up, feeling powerful with weapon in hand. "Just call me 'Action Cam' - Oooh!" She suddenly exclaimed, with an elated realization, as she looked up towards the ceiling, enthralled in a daydreaming state. "Wait, that was good! I like that! Cameron 'Action Cam' McClane - Your Cam on the action!" She proposed, as she waved her hand out in front of her, as if painting herself an invisible picture. "It's perfect!"
"Argh-ow!" She suddenly cringed, painfully and expectedly, as a wrenching twinge shot into her fingers, when the weapon was abruptly torn from her grip.
"I'll take that, honey." Kim nonchalantly informed, as he took possession of the weapon.
Cameron, still somewhat deluded by her own imagined prowess, turned and swung a hard, wide, opened hand slap towards the armored official's face.
"ARRGH! UGH!" She cried out, in anguish, as the cyclopean Commander easily anticipated the blow, intercepting it with his own hand, and twisting the young journalist's arm behind her back in a way that human limbs were just not meant to bend. "AHH-OW! PLEASE, LET GO! LET GO!"
"Hurts, don't it?" He casually questioned, whispering in her ear, as he tucked the confiscated pistol into his pants, behind his back. Then, in turn, he drew forth his own formidable handcannon of a weapon, from the magnetic holster on his hip - the same weapon which was used to gun down Captain Ryback. "Now you're gonna stop squirming and stay as quiet as possible, or I'm gonna tear this arm off. Got it?"
Cameron turned and glared indignantly at her subuer. "Go to hell, you asshole…!" She snarled, spraying his face with saliva, through her teeth, as she spoke.
Kim sighed. "Just what I'd expect from Shepard's bitch." He said, annoyed, as he wiped his cheek with his uniformed shoulder. Just then, his own expression grew into a raging, incensed sneer.
"AHHH!" Cameron cried out, in agony, as her arm was tortuously twisted back harder and further. "Oh god!" She whimpered, as her eyes glazed over, forcing two tiny droplets to drip out. At that moment, realizing it was useless to resist, Cameron stopped her futile and failing attempts at thrashing and escaping, as she felt a pistol barrel press against her temple.
"Come along, baby girl..." The insidious officer insisted, as he forcefully dragged the terrified reporter along, at his mercy. "You're gonna be my little blonde insurance policy through all this…"