Chapter 31b: The Cerberus Coup pt2

The C-sec lobby was in chaos as more Cerberus troopers flew in from the sky, and Jack blew them back with a shockwave. Centurions came in with smoke grenades to block the team's vision as more troopers landed in the lobby, when they landed they opened fired and threw grenades to keep them off-balance. Liara froze the Centurions in a stasis bubble while Shepherd stunned their squad with an Overload chain. Miranda came in close and turned them into popsicles and then turned on the heat. More shots rang out and to their right were three guardians approaching while two engineers set up their turrets.

"Shepherd guardians, to our right!" Liara said. The turrets fired on the team and they quickly changed cover. Shepherd and Liara handled the turrets and the Engineers while Miranda and Jack handled the guardians. Jack glowed and a dark blue wispy field enveloped her, she sent out a shockwave sending them flying was a violent biotic burst, another came from the side catching her off-guard until he was frozen and then shattered. Jack looked at her savior, it was Miranda with a smug smirk on her face, Jack scoffed and the two continued to fight off the guardians. Meanwhile Shepherd and Liara were being pinned down by the turrets, as more troopers arrived behind the engineers. Shepherd stripped the turrets of its shields, and Liara pelted the machines with warp fields until they were destroyed.

The Engineers rushed to set up another turret until the spectre took control of the troopers causing a shootout between allies. Miranda and Jack rejoined them when they were done with the guardians, Jack shift to the side of the troopers and struck with her biotic tendrils while Miranda, Shepherd and Liara gunned them down. After the battle was done, and the team was able to rest easy, Shepherd opened his com.

"Bailey, Troops were in the lobby, they were dug in" he said.

"Yeah, I know, they're all over the Citadel" Miranda spoke up.

"Shepherd look, C-sec corpse" she said. Shepherd went to her.

"Yeah, I see and…?"

Miranda turned the corpse's head and saw several bullets holes…the person didn't know until it was too late. "They're in the back of the head…" she said.

"Just like Mars…." Liara said.

Shepherd frowned. "Sleeper agents….shit" he then raises his com. "Bailey, its Shepherd, watch your back; there may be more sleeper agents among you"

"Will do Shepherd" The team went to the next area, from the looks of it they were in the locker room…the room was wet from the sprinkler systems being activated from the fires. Far into the room were Cerberus troops, they didn't notice them…they were too busy standing which made it perfect for a preemptive strike. Shepherd threw out a grenade first and took out the Centurion in the center after that they had their attention. Miranda was the first ones in, using her tech shield to cover Jack and Liara. Liara immobilized the troopers with a combination of Singularity and Stasis, allowing Jack to shift in finish them off with her shotgun. To the side was an Engineer setting up his turret, Shepherd froze him in a stasis field and blasted him with a warp field. After the battle, Jack saw more C-sec corpses, this time they were naked, they were just taking a shower before Cerberus killed them.

"Fuck…didn't even give them the chance to defend themselves…" she said in disgust. "Bastards" They then hear something farther in.

"Stay low…" Shepherd said. It was a Cerberus engineer talking on the com, in front of him was a control box.

"Elevator secured, starting scramble"

"Shepherd, if we lose the elevators, we lose the station" Liara said. Shepherd gave the nod to Jack and the biotic phased in and silted the engineer's throat with her knife.

"Miranda, get the elevator running, the rest of you are with me" Liara and Jack nodded and as Miranda worked on the elevator, they watched for ambushes. "Done"

"Reset complete, access enabled" The team got into the elevator and Shepherd's com opened.

"Did you find any survivors?" Bailey asked.

"None yet" Shepherd said.

Bailey sighed. "Damn it, keep looking" The team went out of the elevator and was met with a gruesome sight, it was a massacre. The room was littered with smoke and flames, walls were full of bullet holes. To their side was a dark grey remnant of a device, a bomb…Cerberus didn't bother to fight them directly, they just blew them up to get them out-of-the-way.

"Such senseless slaughter…" Liara said softly.

"Poor bastards never stood a chance…" EDI came up over the com; Bailey was feeding the Normandy a camera view of the whole mission. The AI was recording the dead, saying it would be useful for propaganda purposes or memorial purposes…Shepherd struck it down, explaining that it was too soon. They went into the next area, where there were two troopers standing guard. Shepherd and Jack quickly killed them and they went on their way. Turning the corner, they were in an office/ mess room area. The team was nervous, that couldn't be all from Cerberus however from the looks of the damage they had sinking feeling that they were too late. "We must close"

"Yes you are; the Executor's office is up the stairs" Bailey said.

"Hopefully we're not too late" Liara said. The team came close the office, the sound of shattered glass and explosions got their attention. Above them the troopers open fired, making them scatter to cover.

"Watch your ass!" Jack said. She glowed blue/black and got out her knife and charged the blade with biotic energy. Miranda used her flamer to burn the troopers and Liara lifted them of the ground with her singularity field. Shepherd activated his tech armor and got his shotgun and blasted the troopers and then detonated Liara's field with a warp filed. Jack swiped at the centurions with her biotic slash and then wiped them out with her smash. After the battle was done, they went upstairs and took cover, ready for anything.

"Open it" Shepherd said. Miranda nodded and opened the door and the team went in with the office with their guns out. In the office, they saw a human slumped over the desk...Liara went to examine his throat slit. Jack checked the salarians, it was the same deal no bullet wounds and a cut from a blade. Cerberus made sure there were no mistakes. "Bailey we're too late, the Executor and his bodyguards are dead"

"Shit…all right, keep searching" Bailey said. "The fact we haven't seen the councilor's body, means there's a chance that he's still alive"

"Right" he said. Shepherd then he saw Miranda at the window overlooking the office below, her eyes narrowed like she was focused on something. "What's wrong?"

"I think we found the councilor…" Shepherd met her at the window and saw nothing until he saw something shimmering in the light. A figure rose and decloaked, it was Councilor Valern. Shepherd raised his com.

"We found him, he's unharmed"

Bailey sighed. "Well, that's one problem dealt with" he said. "Get him to safety" Shepherd went give his team the signal until Jack then spoke up.

"Yo, Boy Scout! Up there!" Shepherd looked up and saw a woman in black light armor on top of the ledge jump down in front of the Councilor. Valern's eyes went wide as he backed up, the woman walking towards him menacingly…she pulled out her sword.

"Shit, let's move!" Shepherd and Jack jumped out of the building, with Miranda and Liara and catching up to them. The woman jumped and flipped behind the councilor, pointing at the councilor's neck. Shepherd pulled out his pistol while Jack glowed. "Don't even think about it"

The woman pressed the point of her blade closer to the salarian's neck. "Don't move or the Salarian dies!" she said coldly.

"Shepherd, Udina's going to kill us all" Valern said.

"What do you mean?" Shepherd asked.

"He's staging a coup, the other councilors are being lured into a trap" he said. Miranda and Liara caught up to them.

"We'll stop him, as for you, I would suggest you give up lady, it's four us against one of you" Shepherd said.

The woman gave a cold laugh. "You wouldn't dare…I know how important the salarian is to your plans" she said. "You won't jeopardize that" Shepherd hesitated for a minute, she was right if Valern dies then he could get help from the Salarian Union. They then heard a gun clicking and it was Thane with a gun behind her head. The woman then slapped the away and gave an elbow to the drell, in which he blocked and countered her with a punch of his own, pushing the woman back.

"Secure the Councilor!" Shepherd said. The team got to Valern and surrounded him, while Thane was dealing with woman. The woman grabbed Thane and punch him in the chest repeatedly until the drell got himself loose and retaliated with a backhanded fist in which she guarded against. The woman was indeed skilled, but she had a lot to learn as when she flipped him, he was able to recover instantly and gave kick to her chest pushing her back to the wall. The woman was seething with anger and charged at dell with sword in hand, Thane charged his biotics was able to break her sword and gave a swift but powerful kick to face shattering the side of her helmet. She fell to the floor, and she was knocked out, not before Miranda gave a startled gasp at seeing the woman's face. She recognized her.

"No…" she gasped. Thane walked up to the woman about to finish her until, Miranda broke formation and went in front of the woman, shielding her from Thane. The team looked at her surpised. "Stop, don't come any closer!"

"Cheerleader what the hell?!"

"Miss Lawson, please stand aside, she is a threat" Thane said calmly. Miranda shook her head defiantly and shielded the unconscious woman.

"I'm sorry but I can't let you kill her" Miranda said.

"Dammit, Cheerleader, she's Cerberus, she doesn't deserve to live!" Jack said. Miranda glared at Jack.

"She's not Cerberus, she's my sister!" Miranda yelled.

The team was stunned at the revelation, Miranda took that time to remove the rest of her shattered helmet, to revel that she was indeed Miranda's sister, Orianna. However she looked different from the young woman on Illum, she was pale, and face was scarred, not from the fight, but from the months of being in Cerberus's custody. Her hair was much shorter with the sides and back of her head shaved, with a long scar running along the back of her head. Tears ran down Miranda's face.

"Ori, what have they done to you…?" A voice spoke up

"We made her better than the miserable woman she was before" the voice said.

The team then heard a pained grunt, and to their horror, it was Thane being run through by a sword. At the hilt of the sword was a man in the same black uniform as Orianna, he had long hair tied in a ponytail. His face was obscured with mask, but from what little they could he was of Asian descent. The man pushed the drell off his sword and Thane fell with a heavy thud lying in a puddle of his own blood.

The man scoffed as he wiped his sword of Thane's blood. "Disappointing, I expected the former teammate of the great Commander Shepherd to be more attentive"

"Thane!" Shepherd said. "Bastard!" The man gave a cruel smirk and looked back at the fallen Orianna.

"Orianna, how long are going to feign weakness? I thought I taught you better than that" he said. Orianna opened her eyes; before Miranda could react she gave her sister a swift, hard punch to the face. She got up and joined the man's side.

"Miranda!" With the formation broken, the man took out his gun and aimed at Valern in the head with two shots the Salarian councilor fell with a dull thud. "Damn you!" Shepherd charged at the man and Orianna, not before the man threw down a flash grenade, blinding the team. When their vision returned, the man and Orianna were gone.

"Fuck!" Shepherd said. He heard the weak groans from the drell, and ran to him. "Thane, come on man, stay with me!"

"She…pherd…you….must….stop…him…" Thane said weakly. He coughed up his blood, and wheezed he wouldn't have long. "He's…going after….council….Kolyat…" His eyes went dark and he went limp, he was dead, Thane was dead, Shepherd had lost yet another friend.

"No…not again…" Shepherd said softly. His head went down as he clenched his fist tightly. "Not another one…" Liara walked up to him and put a head on his shoulder.

"Shepherd, we have to go, we have to save the remaining council" Liara said softly.

"R…right…We have a job to do…" Shepherd said shakily. He then raised his com. "Bailey, it's Shepherd…"

"Shepherd, what hell happened? One minute I was watching you and the next minute static…"

"Valern's dead…"

"Shit, you kidding me?"

"Yeah…where is the rest of the council?" Shepherd asked.

"At the emergency docks, Kolyat and some of my men are with him" he said. Shepherd flinched when he mentioned Kolyat, and looked at Thane's body. He was dead, Kolyat's father was dead, all because they were caught off guard, and how was he going to explain to Kolyat that Thane's death was his fault, that he failed him.

Shepherd took a deep breath. "Right" he said. "Bailey, we also have…another casualty…"

"Who?"

"Thane…Kolyat's father…"

Bailey was quiet for a while. "I see…you want me to break the news….?"

"No, I'll do it…It's my responsibility as his friend…"

Things take a turn for the worst….Find out next time.

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