"Trust Me":
"Thane!"
Out of all the people to find lurking in the secret tunnels of the Citadel, the Drell had been the very last person Kaidan had expected, save from Shepard.
… Then again, Kaidan would not have been surprised in the slightest to see Shepard down here, considering the man's habit of showing up when one least expected it.
"Major Alenko," Thane replied, looking rather relieved to see Kaidan as he hurried over to him. "I am glad to see you. I ran out of ammo before I could dispose of the remaining soldiers and they had me pinned down. You seem to have come just in time," he mused before smiling. "It is good to see that you are alright as well. I tried getting a hold of you over the coms, but all open channels are down so I have been sending out emergency messages. I haven't been able to get a response yet."
"Do you know what is going on?"
"Not entirely, except that the Citadel is crawling with Cerberus soldiers. They seem to come out of nowhere."
"Cerberus? Here?" Udina gasped, visibly paling when he heard the information, having rounded the corner when he heard the two men talking. "How is that even possible, how did they breech the security?"
"Unknown, but we do not have time to find out," Thane replied before looking at Kaidan.
"We need to get help."
"I can't leave the Councillor alone," Kaidan replied, looking over at Udina for a moment before his eyes returned to Thane. "Have you seen the other members?"
"I believe they are in the panic-room," Thane responded, turning to point down the hallway.
"C-Sec bought them time to get in, but Cerberus was at their tails. I just happened to follow Cerberus from the hospital to here when I got mixed up in this."
"You probably saved their lives," Kaidan said, smiling some at Thane.
Thane gave a half smile back. "Merely doing what I can. And now you can protect them while I go for help," he murmured, giving the Major a firm nod.
"I can move quickly thanks to my... Previous occupation. I can reach the C-Sec Headquarters and see if I can be of assistance or get help from there. You are more than a match for Cerberus and if you stay in the panic-room, you should be able to keep the Council safe."
He quickly tapped his fingers over his omnitool before linking it with Kaidan's.
"I cannot make any promises as to when you will hear from me, I don't want Cerberus to find our locations and there is no time to set up secure routes, but I will try to keep you updated on my findings."
"Sounds like a plan, Thane," Kaidan agreed before picking up one of the guns from the dead Cerberus trooper, tossing it over to the Drell.
"Just don't go unprotected."
Thane caught the gun with ease, giving Kaidan a small grin. "I never am. But thank you for the sentiment," he murmured before heading in the direction Kaidan and Udina had come from.
Kaidan just gave a small smirk back before looking at Udina. "Okay, come on. We need to check if the others are inside."
Udina nodded and jogged down the hallway, Kaidan keeping himself right behind him, until they reached a set of large, fortified titanium-doors, complete with shields and powered locks. It certainly looked like a safe place to be, at least from the inside.
"They must be in there for the shields to be up," Udina commented as he hurried over to the door, pressing it at a glass-panel next to it. After a quick scan, a keypad appeared over the panel, allowing Udina to press in another, longer code.
Moments after the code was entered, the shields powered down and Kaidan could hear the locks as they opened before the door slid up. Knowing that if the Council were in there, they would probably be worried by the fact that the doors were opening.
He also knew that, for all he knew, they could be hostages in there so he quickly grabbed Udina's arm and tugged him out of view of the slowly opening door.
"Councillors! It is Major Kaidan Alenko and Councillor Udina! Don't panic!"
"Major?" Councillor Sparatus called out, sounding surprised, but not panicked.
Kaidan let his biotic shield flicker over his body, signalling for Udina to remain where he was before stepping into view, gun at the ready.
Sparatus and Tevos immediately took a step back, looking slightly panicked they saw the biotic. Upon seeing no others in the room save from the two councillor members, Kaidan lowered the gun. "Thank god you are okay. But where is Councillor Valern?"
"He was never with us," Sparatus replied, stepping up towards Kaidan.
"We were ushered here by C-Sec since we were already gathered for the meeting in the Council Chamber, waiting for Udina and Valern to join us."
"What is going on, Major Alenko," Tevos asked, her voice hard as she looked around.
"We were attacked by Cerberus soldiers and barely managed to lock ourselves in here while C-Sec held them off."
"I am not a hundred percent sure, but it seems like Cerberus is trying to take over the Citadel. That or they have just made an attempt on your lives. Or both."
"Meaning we shouldn't remain in the open," Udina replied, walking into the room and immediately worked on closing the doors.
"We will be safe in here, until C-Sec gets everything in order."
"Is there a safe channel here," Kaidan asked while letting Udina handling the door-locks since he didn't know the codes for the panic-rooms.
"There is supposed to be one," Tevos said, turning on her own omnitool while frowning.
"But we haven't been able to connect to it. It seems like the all channels have been blocked, which is... worrisome. Our omnitools are all linked to the C-Sec network via private channels and we have tried to raise the alarm through that as well. If the signal has gone through…"
Kaidan frowned some as he turned his own omnitool on, trying to connect to the same channel. "Static," he mumbled.
"How does the channel to C-Sec work?"
"It's like a silent-alarm or tracking, so C-Sec can find us in an emergency-situation," Tevos explained, holding out her arm so Kaidan could see the flashing light coming from her omnitool, indicating that the tracking was activated. "We are supposed to activate it, which we have, but since we haven't heard anything…"
"C-Sec might have their hands full and if they can see that you are in here, they might assume that you are safe for the time being. That and they might rely on the officers and guards that were already accompanying you," Kaidan replied.
"And if the communications are down, they would not know that the guards have already been taken out, or if an alarm has been raised further."
"Then we are trapped here," Sparatus grunted. "But at least we are safe."
"Better than nothing," Kaidan replied before he turned his attention to Udina as the human councillor suddenly let out a rather colourful stream of curses.
"The doors have jammed themselves! I cannot close them!"
Councillor Sparatus hurried over to Udina and started pressing the buttons, his mandibles pressed firmly against his jaw. "The doors have lost connection. Or power."
"Meaning this place is no longer safe," Kaidan said with a frown.
"I can hold it with my biotics, but I wouldn't be able to keep a shield up for forever. And without any ways to get help, we'd be cornered."
"There are secret escape routes," Tevos suggested. "For the members of the Council. We could use them and go to one of the other panic-rooms."
"And what if the result is the same there," Udina said, arms crossed over his chest.
"What if all the panic-rooms are malfunctioning?"
"It is better than staying here unprotected," Kaidan replied while trying to bring up a map of the Citadel via the Spectre channels so he could study their surroundings.
"Thane said he followed several soldiers here from Huerta, meaning they know how to get here. We cannot risk more of them coming for you. But if we move and throw them off our trail, we'll have a better chance to get to a better location where you three can be protected."
"What about Councillor Valern," Tevos asked, frowning a little as he looked at Kaidan.
"We cannot just leave him on his own."
"Right now, my priority is to get you three to safety," Kaidan replied while bringing up the escape routes Tevos had mentioned.
"When I have done that, I can contact a friend of mine, get a status update."
"It's the best plan we have," Sparatus replied, fixing his eyes on Kaidan.
"We will follow your lead."
Kaidan nodded while making the map a little bigger. "There is an exit-route just outside this panic-room. It seems to lead around and away from the Council Chamber from beneath and to this open area," he stated, pointing his finger to the location.
"That's another emergency escape route through the Presidium," Udina explained as he approached Kaidan to see the map.
"It will take us to a small private dock with an armed and reinforced skycar for the Council, in case of evacuations."
"And where is the nearest panic-room from there?"
"The Wards," Sparatus replied, rubbing a clawed hand against his mandibles. "Or further down the Presidium, I do not think there is much of a difference distance –wise, but the Wards might be the safest option, depending on where and what Cerberus is after."
"Either way is better than here then," Udina grunted as he started heading out of the panic-room. "We can decide on which one we like better once we are on that car."
"Udina is right," Kaidan replied while shutting the map down, having memorized as much of it as he could before he ushered the two other Councillor-members along.
It would be hard, defending three members of the Council on his own. He couldn't keep them in front of him in case of a frontal attack, but he couldn't keep them behind himself either in case of an ambush from behind.
Right now he just really wished he had eyes at the back of his head.
"We can't stay here for much longer and like I said, I'd rather have us on the move than sitting out in the open here."
He inhaled deeply as they moved together, hand already gripping tightly around the handle of his gun.
"Please, keep your eyes with you and stay close so I can protect you. We have to move as swiftly, but carefully as we can."
The group moved swiftly back down the hallway, back towards the elevator Kaidan and Udina had taken down, but instead of entering it, they moved around it, heading the complete opposite direction than before.
"There should be an elevator down this hallway, but it will take us up to the Presidium," Udina said, frowning some as they quickly walked down the hallway, looking around somewhat nervously.
"We need to take another elevator to get to the skycar, but it won't be a far walk."
"I will take your word for it," Kaidan replied as they reached the elevator, holding his hand up to halt them. "Does this elevator need a code?" he asked while glancing at Udina.
"No. Only specific floors need them to be reached."
"Understood," Kaidan replied, pressing the button to call the elevator down before taking a step back, gun at the ready in case it brought any surprises with it.
When the elevator came to a stop at their floor and the door opened, Kaidan almost expected a wave of Cerberus soldiers to come flooding out of it, but it was completely empty.
"Okay, get inside," he ushered, letting the Councillor members enter first, covering them before entering the elevator as well.
As soon as the human biotic was inside, Councillor Sparatus pressed the elevator button, watching as the doors slid shut before the elevator jerked into motion.
"I want you all to prepare yourself," Kaidan said, looking at the three of them.
"I don't know what is out there, we are flying blind. We have to be fast, but we have to be careful too. We seemed to be safe down there for the time being, but now we will be more open and we won't know if there will be Cerberus soldiers in the area we're going to."
"The path isn't far, we should be able to get there fairly fast," Tevos replied, though the normally confident Councillor was looking a little shaken; her left arm was crossed over her chest, holding onto the elbow of her other arm while the hand on that arm was touching her face, finger tapping against her jaw.
"We will count on that, but I can't stress this enough," Kaidan responded, looking towards her.
"Be careful. No stunts, no risks. Look twice instead of just looking once."
The three Councillors nodded slowly, inhaling deeply and slowly as the elevator took them up to their destination.
When the elevator jerked to a halt, Kaidan immediately brought his gun up, aiming it at the door while standing in front of the Councillors, waiting for the door to slide open as he prepared himself for an attack. Time seemed to move slowly, the door taking ages before they finally opened, revealing nothing but the empty sidewalk on the other side.
Kaidan didn't take any chances though, quickly peering to both sides as he stepped out of the elevator, assessing the area as quickly as he dared to before nodding to the Councillor, deeming it safe. "Okay, come on. Be quick."
Thankfully the Councillors seemed to be more than ready to listen to him as they quickly scurried out of the elevator, jogging down the pathway, but being mindful not to stray too quickly from Kaidan.
"Straight to the elevator," he called out to them while covering their backs, knowing he could toss a shield on them easier if he saw something from the front while covering the back than the other way around.
The quick jog to the elevator couldn't have possibly been more than a few seconds long, a minute at the most, but every step, every movement from the Councillors seemed to take ages in Kaidan's mind. They were wasting precious seconds outside of cover, being vulnerable.
He knew it was all in his mind; the situation was far from ideal and he was protecting the most important people in the galaxy on his own.
Udina reached the elevator first and quickly slammed his hand against the button, looking around the area nervously. Tevor and Sparatus were right behind him, breathing hard from the quick sprint while Kaidan covered them.
The elevator door slid open mere moments later and Kaidan ushered them inside before backing into it as well. "Okay, which floor?"
"Eighty-second," Sparatus said, but he pressed the button before Kaidan could, which the biotic didn't mind. He needed both hands at the ready, just in case something happened.
"The sky-car shouldn't be far, just a few feet from the elevator," Udina said, pacing a little behind Kaidan's back, hands clasped together behind his own back.
"We should be safe; the odds of Cerberus having disabled all cars are minimal."
"Don't jinx us now, Councillor," Kaidan said, eyes fixed on the door before his attention was brought elsewhere as the first sounds of gunfire reached him.
"… Shit."
"Major?" Udina stopped his movements and instead looked at the human biotic.
"Quiet," Kaidan whispered while walking to the wall of the still-moving elevator, trying to discover just where the gunfire was coming from.
When he heard the gunfire coming closer, he let out another curse.
There was people fighting in the damn elevator-shaft and they were quickly coming their way.
"Maybe they don't know we are here," Tevos whispered, looking at the spot Kaidan was standing.
"There's a chance it is a battle between C-Sec and Cerberus," Kaidan confirmed, frowning some as he backed away from the wall.
"But I want us to be ready, just in case they do know you are in here. There is a very real possibility that C-Sec has responded to your signal and has unintentionally brought the battle here."
"By the Goddess," Tevos breathed out while Sparatus put his hand on her shoulder, giving her a silent nod.
The four of them continued their journey upwards in silence, listening to the sound of battle echoing around them. Kaidan was having trouble locating just exactly where it was coming from, it sounded like it was coming from all directions, making him wonder exactly what the hell was going on.
"We are almost there," Udina murmured, watching as the numbers changed on the small screen before jumping as a rather loud thud sounded above them.
"What's that noise," Tevos whispered while Kaidan carefully nudged them all towards the wall so he could cover them.
"Gunmen," he warned while drawing his own gun, aiming it towards the roof.
C-Sec wouldn't come for them through the roof, they would stop the elevator and force the doors open to make a rescue or something similar more smoothly and safely. After all, C-Sec didn't know what was going on and knew that if the Council was under Cerberus control, jumping them through the roof could possibly get them killed.
"Get down," he said sharply before firing a few warning-shots of his own through the roof. He wasn't aiming to kill, just to disturb whoever was on the roof long enough for them to get out of the elevator. By the sound of it, it was working as there were sounds of movement going away from their little corner.
The elevator came to a halt as Udina slammed his fist against the button and a quick glance at the screen told Kaidan that they had not arrived where they were supposed to be, but they would have to work with it.
"Go," he ordered as the door slid open, keeping his eyes and the gun on the roof as the Council quickly scurried out of the confined room before following them.
"There should be a shuttle here too," Sparatus yelled as they ran, Kaidan quickly following them. "This entire section is full of shuttle-platforms for C-Sec."
"Let's hope we get lucky," Kaidan replied as he ushered the members forward. The door ahead of them slid open as the motion-sensors detected them, but the sight on the other side was not what Kaidan wanted to see.
There was a shuttle there, but it was already engulfed in flames. Kaidan was almost willing to bet that if this shuttle was destroyed, then most, if not all, shuttles in this area was.
If they stayed here, they would be trapped, but Kaidan had no idea just what as following them from the elevator. Then again, there were other elevators in the area and Kaidan could buy the Council time to escape in a different one.
He had to make a decision.
"Cerberus took out the shuttle," he ordered after a few seconds of thinking and gestured for the Council to pull back. "Everyone back to the elevator! Move!"
They were dead if they stayed out there. At least in the hallway, they had a fighting chance.
After a quick scan to make sure there was no nasty surprises coming from the shuttle or the open area around them, Kaidan returned his attention back to the hallway, only to stop dead in his tracks.
Coming in and locking the door behind them was Shepard, accompanied by Garrus and Lieutenant Vega.
Judging by the look on their face, they had not expected to see Kaidan there either and their guns were immediately lowered, at least for a second.
Then Shepard's eyes shifted away from Kaidan and instead landed on Udina, who immediately backed away.
"Shepard? What's going on," the biotic asked, quickly lifting his own gun as he stepped between Shepard and Udina. This… this wasn't right and he was sure that there was a look of confusion on his face.
"Shepard's blocking our escape," Udina spat and Kaidan could hear the anger in the Councillors' voice. "He's with Cerberus!"
"Just hang on," Kaidan replied firmly, inhaling deeply as he kept himself between Shepard and Udina, hoping he didn't look as insecure as he felt. "I got this. Everyone calm down."
He wasn't sure who the last bit was directed to, himself or the people around him, but he had an inkling that he was trying to calm himself down.
Shepard gave Kaidan a somewhat pained look before lowering his gun, but Garrus and James kept theirs up. "I can explain this, Kaidan," the Commander said, looking directly at Kaidan.
"Come on, Shepard," Kaidan said, his own expression pulled into a look that mirrored Shepard's own pained expression. "Gun drawn on a councillor… Kinda looks bad."
Shepard took a quick look behind himself before holding his hand out, gesturing for both Garrus and James to lower their weapons. Garrus gave Shepard a small look, but did as told while James looked over his shoulder, watching the closed door behind them.
Kaidan could tell that they completely trusted Shepard and while Garrus had been involved with the mess with Cerberus half a year ago, James… James had not. He had no reason as far as Kaidan knew to play nice with them.
"We don't have time to negotiate," Shepard said firmly, straightening up as he took a step towards Shepard. "You've been fooled, all of you."
He pointed a finger towards Udina while frowning. "Udina's behind this attack. The Salarian councillor confirmed it."
"Please," Udina snorted, shaking his head slightly in denial as he came a little closer towards Kaidan, obviously ready to challenge whatever Shepard had to say. "You have no proof. You never do."
"There are Cerberus soldiers in the elevator shaft behind us. If you open that door, they'll kill you all," Shepard continued, obviously not in the mood to take Udina's bait, settling for an angry gesture towards the door to make his point.
"We've mistrusted Shepard before," Councillor Tevos said slowly, shifting nervously from one leg to the other as she tried to assess the situation. "-and it did not help us."
"We don't have time to debate this," Udina protested, quickly turning and heading towards a panel by the shuttle, logging himself onto it. "We're dead if we stay out here. I am overriding the lock."
As the human councillor moved, Shepard whipped his gun back up again, aiming it at the man, only to once again be blocked by Kaidan.
The human biotic merely stared at Shepard, trying to find some sort of fault in the very simple story, but as the Commander's blue eyes met his, letting him see the sincerity…
"I better not regret this."
Shepard gave Kaidan a downright warm and adoring smile as the human biotic turned away from him. "You won't."
Kaidan knew that if he was wrong, not only would he get a bullet or three in the back, but he would be responsible for the lives of three members of the council.
Both Anderson and Shepard had told him to trust his heart and head as well as his gut and now… He just had to give it a try.
"Udina, step away from the console," he warned as he lifted his gun, aiming it at Udina as he slowly walked towards him.
Udina looked alarmed for a moment before returning his attention to the console. "To hell with this," he snarled as he continued to angrily punch at the buttons.
Shepard snapped his head towards the door-lock, seeing as the lock was being overridden by the Councillor. "Kaidan, the door," he warned as he continued to aim the gun at Udina.
Before Kaidan could react, Tevos ducked around him, walking over to Udina. "Don't do this, Udina," she whispered.
"Whatever Cerberus has offered you, it is worth the lives of the people on the Citadel?"
Udina seemed to hesitate for a moment before giving Tevos a glare, angrily shoving her away from him. "You have no idea," he hissed as he watched the woman land onto her back with a pained gasp, pulling a gun from a holster hidden underneath his back, aiming it at the Asari.
"It is worth everything."
"He's got a gun," Kaidan warned, his biotics flaring up in an attempt to disarm the human councillor, but he would be too slow. As the human councillor's finger pressed against the trigger, Kaidan's own finger pressed down hard on his gun, firing one single shot into the Councillor's chest while his biotics created a small protective bubble around Tevos.
Udina let out a gurgle as blood started pumping out of the open wound on his chest and with one last look at Kaidan, the human councillor slumped over, dropping the gun onto the floor as he landed face-first onto the steel-floor.
Kaidan quickly rushed over to help Tevos up from the floor, but as he helped her, he heard the last whispered words from the dying man.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this," Udina gurgled, blood splattering against the floor as he coughed. "N-nobody was supposed to g-get hurt…"
Kaidan just looked at him, breathing hard as the Asari got onto her feet, releasing her so she could get behind him.
"Kaidan..?"
Snapping out of the trance, Kaidan glanced over at Shepard, having not noticed the man come closer to them. "Yeah, I'm good," he merely said, tossing one more look at the dead councillor.
"I'm good."
Shepard opened his mouth to say something, but his attention was quickly snatched away by Sparatus as the Turian suddenly yelled out "the door!", pointing towards the sparks coming from it.
The four soldiers quickly rushed over to the door, guns drawn and at the ready as the doors were forcefully wielded through from the other side.
Kaidan was sure they were quite the sight as the door slid open, only to reveal C-Sec members and officers on the other side, one of the men even raising his hands up at the sight of two human spectres, a Turian sniper and the human equivalent of a Krogan aiming their weapons at them.
It wouldn't last long as Shepard clearly knew the man leading the party, quickly lowering his own gun down. "Bailey?"
"Made it as fast as we could, Shepard," the man referred to as Bailey answered, putting his own gun away.
"Looks like you, uh… took care of things," he added and Kaidan could swear that the man sounded a bit amused.
"Well, you know Shepard," Garrus mused as he put his own rifle down, giving the man the Turian equivalent of a grin. "If you ever need some Spring-cleaning down, he's the man to call."
"Something's not right," the Asari Councillor said quickly, looking nervously down the hallway, clearly expecting more. "You said Cerberus was targeting us. Where did their soldiers go?"
"Cerberus was right here," Bailey said as he stepped towards Tevos, giving her a reassuring smile. "But they beat feet into the Keeper tunnels when they figured out we were coming."
He then turned and gestured towards Shepard. "Sorry, Councillor, I'll say it plain. Shepard just saved the lot of you."
"Then you have saved my life twice now," Councillor Sparatus said, walking over to Shepard and offering his hand. "I owe you both a personal debt and one on behalf of Palaven."
"You don't owe me anything, Councillor," Shepard said, taking the offered hand and giving it a shake. "Times like this, we all stand together."
Sparatus nodded before glancing over towards the body of Udina, his mandibles twitching slightly. "Commander. Do you have any idea why the Illusive Man would do this?"
"No. I don't," Shepard sighed, shaking his head some.
"But I plan to find out."
Sparatus merely looked at Shepard, studying him before nodding, releasing the hand from his own.
"All right, people," Bailey called out, looking over at his own C-Sec soldiers. "Principals are evacuated, we got a tunnel and a million more places to secure. Move it!"
The C-Sec officers snapped to attention, quickly scattering into the hallway to continue with securing the area.
"Councillors, if you will come with us," he asked, gesturing for the two remaining councillors to follow him. "We will take you to Councillor Valern"
"We'll help securing the area," Shepard offered, following Bailey along with Garrus and James. When Kaidan didn't immediately follow, the Commander stopped, giving him a small look. "Kaidan?"
Kaidan tore his eyes from the sight of the dead human councillor, pulling a slight face before nodding.
"Yeah, sorry. I'm coming."
As he followed Shepard down the hallway, every part of Kaidan's mind was arguing with one another over what had gone down just now, but the only thing he could really get from it all was a slight bitter taste in his mouth and a very firm thought trying to reassure him that "he had done the right thing".