Hello, Time Bomb
Chapter 52
Earth
Three
Kaidan had never seen anything like London in the hour they touched down. He hadn't seen so much of Earth, but the city couldn't have been too different from the other megatropolises, couldn't have been too different from home. That was before the invasion. Now it was unrecognisable as a city.
Most of the buildings had collapsed, partially or fully, in giant piles of rubble or long impact paths where skyscrapers had fallen, spreading debris out for hundreds of metres around them. The only sounds were the fall of combat boots in unison and the running tanks, the rumble of firing engines and treads over gravel and asphalt. There was the occasional burst of heavy gunfire from the perimeter, keeping the husks out, but their part of the city was otherwise eerily quiet, all forces holding off to prepare for Hammer.
Cortez had landed them safely, even with destroyers trying to shoot them down, the battle in upper atmosphere lighting up the sky like fireworks. But now it was strangely dull, a calm before the storm, this little corner of London where the Alliance had managed to hide for long enough to come up with a plan and implement it.
Anderson wasn't happy that Shepard had led the shadow team herself but he wasn't arguing, letting Kaidan step into the role without a fuss. Kaidan was honestly surprised that soldiers on the ground seemed happy to see him, encouraged, the way he thought they'd look when Shepard touched down. It made a strange kind of sense. She didn't like the spotlight, she had no public domain images of her new face and the Alliance hadn't liked to splash her old face around, scarred like it was. Of the two human Spectres his was the face everyone knew.
The men here were tired and scared. Some had been there from the beginning, some had come in with Hammer, but all of them were exhausted, dozens of hollow eyes perking up as he passed, watching with interest, as if this was the first spark of hope they'd felt in months. They wanted to see any of the Normandy crew, to know the Council and Spectres were with them.
"Alenko, what's the status of Hammer?" The Spectre emergency channel was usually silent, but now shadow were trading information fast, it was even more active than Hammer comms.
"Our briefing is just about to begin, I'll have an update for you in ten. What's Ilos looking like?" He wanted to talk to her like she was his girlfriend, like he was scared without her there and they might never talk again, but half the Spectre force was listening in, so he held his tongue.
"Moderate Reaper presence, we're confident we can avoid detection. Keep us updated."
"Roger that, Commander."
While he was waiting for Anderson to call them in he found EDI looking out over the city. She looked concerned. Once he might have thought that was just her emulating the people around her. He still wasn't sure she quite picked up on the subtleties of the emotions. Her brow couldn't crease, her eyes couldn't wrinkle, but whatever she felt he knew it was sincere.
"What's on your mind, EDI?" he asked.
"Our chances for success, even with Shepard's alternative measures, are extremely small," she said, her voice going deeper, sad or angry, whatever emotional inflection had been programmed into her.
"Are you scared?"
"With all due respect, I would be more comfortable if Shepard were here."
Kaidan grinned despite himself, his black mood suddenly lightening. Ash's assessment of that phrase rang in his head. EDI didn't mean it like that, but the idea still made it that much easier to swallow.
After all this time they were a family, and on most days Shepard was the inappropriate grandma but when they needed her she was the mother. Today she was the mother and she wasn't there. He guessed that made him the stepdad who had to convince the kids that mom would be right back, that she still loved them.
"She wants to be here, EDI. She's trying to give us our best chance."
"The statistical difference is not significant."
"I don't think she cares about the statistical significance for once, EDI. If this buys us any fraction of a percentage point she'll do it."
EDI looked at him, her eyes scanning his face, he guessed for some data to match up against her databases, to figure out what he was feeling. She crossed her arms. "No species has ever survived a Reaper assault."
"First time for everything, right?"
She looked at him and he swore she had that same 'why would you try to argue with me?' superiority that Shepard got when he was trying to match wits with her. "That is accurate, Major."
"Then we'll be the first."
"Shepard would disagree with your oversimplification."
"She'd disagree with your overcomplication. We can do it, so we'll do it. Statistics mean nothing to the individual." That was a direct quote, but it landed. EDI almost smiled. He clapped a hand on her shoulder, not sure if she responded to physical contact. It was worth a shot. "Come on. We all wish we were up there with her, but we're not infiltrators. We're here to hit them where it hurts if Ivy needs it."
"Multilateral missions are difficult. I did not anticipate this complication."
"Yeah, I hear you," he said with a sigh. He looked out across the city, huge areas of it blacked out, the rest lit up by military spotlights or Reaper thannix. He wasn't going to strain himself trying to figure out how EDI felt about Joker, if she even could, right then it was something rare and valuable to have someone know what he was going through. Joker was up there, right in the line of fire. Kaidan had to deal with Ivy going against dangers unknown, but EDI could see what Joker was up against and it was too big to even think about.
"Dr. Solus theorised that in this scenario a sentimental attachment to organic life was an advantage. I am not confident in his hypothesis."
"Are you scared?"
"I am not capable of fear."
Kaidan leaned against a nearby wall, folding his arms. "You know four years ago this was all business. I was worried about living up to the rest of the Normandy crew professionally. Shepard intimidated me before I even met her."
"Joker was an unknown quantity. He introduced an organic error margin into my systems. I was not programmed to have an opinion on his presence."
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure Ivy wasn't allowed to have an opinion on me, either." He half-smiled, thinking of those early days. "You're still up there with him, aren't you?"
"Yes, however my ability to communicate is compromised. My spatial cognition and reactionary reasoning processes are operating locally. I cannot converse socially aboard the Normandy at this time."
"That's rough. But we're doing what we can. For Joker and Ivy, for everyone. This is what soldiers do, we follow orders, do our part, protect the people we love."
She pursed her lips and gave a short nod of determination. "I am confident in Shepard's strategic abilities, and in your judgement, Major."
Anderson motioned him over to the briefing table and he grasped EDI's shoulder one more time, already half-stepping toward the admiral. "We all keep each other safe."
"Understood, Major."
He walked up to the briefing table, the surface lit with projections. Major Coates was looking grim as the Normandy grew gathered around. He'd been on the ground since day one, it looked like he'd seen even worse than Anderson. Coates was a dead man walking; gaunt, exhausted and dead-eyed. There were so many men like him down here, men who just wanted this war ended, one way or another.
Ivy had been right, Anderson's plan was thin. It was as good as any they had but it wasn't much. They'd be leading a full charge straight against the matter transporter that led to the citadel, throwing everything they had at the defences the Reapers had in place. The battle above Earth would hopefully keep them safe from a full bombardment, but the chances of any of them walking away were slim.
"We'll hold here," Anderson pointed to a spot on the holographic map. "If Shadow doesn't deliver, we'll be ready to make a charge straight for the beam. Have we heard from them, Major?"
"They're headed for the conduit, no setbacks reported," Kaidan said.
"Good. This is it, everyone. One last fight. I know you're up to it."
The briefing was over, and Kaidan knew that just like he'd expected Ivy to say goodbye to everyone he was now expected to do the same thing, give them some motivation, some inspiration. With EDI he could talk it out, but looking at the faces of all his friends, all the people he owed his life to and more, and knowing they'd all soon be dead didn't bring anything awe-inspiring to mind. Earth and everything on it was fighting and dying.
So when Anderson left them alone for their final preparations, his throat was so dry he could barely speak, and he did what Ivy would have done. He didn't dress it up in fancy words, he was just honest with them.
"We're going to save every person we can," he said. "You're the best damn crew in the galaxy, I know Shepard would say the same if she was here. If anyone can do this, it's us. So let's do it."
It was enough. Vega saluted him with an exhausted half smile. Kaidan pulled Liara into half a hug on their way downstairs. Garrus gave him a stern nod of approval as they took up their place among the rest of Hammer.
The sky was getting brighter with the waves of aerial assault drones preparing to cover the ground troops. The dust from collapsed buildings was cloying, the city reeked from rotting blood and the exposed sewers where the roadways had been torn up, all of it coated in the acrid stench of smoke, fires had torn through so much of the city. There were no bodies, which made it even worse, they'd all been taken to the Citadel or other harvesting ships. It was just a ghost town, an apocalyptic nightmare.
The sounds of MAKOs and troops that had been a distant background noise when they first landed was now all around them, managing to block out the sound of gunfire and screaming. Hammer was smaller than they would have liked, but big enough that Kaidan finally felt like they had support at their backs, that it wasn't the Normandy versus the galaxy.
On one of the still-intact walls he saw the only sign of life, graffiti painted in black on the brick wall. I believe in Commander Shepard.
He heard the snap of a camera, saw the flash go off and a young soldier looked bashfully away. Kaidan guessed that was a pretty good shot.
"Alenko, we've reached the Citadel," a voice in his ear, static blurring the sound.
"Bau? Where's Shepard?"
"She's broken off from the main group. We're experiencing some resistance, several Spectres are making separate stealth runs to the Council Tower. What's your status?"
"Hammer is mobile, we're approaching the Citadel entrance. No ETA yet."
"Wait for our update."
"Roger that."
If they were lucky Hammer wouldn't need to be there. If they were lucky Shadow would find the console, open up the Citadel and they could just turn around and go home.
Even Kaidan wasn't optimistic enough to hope for that. He could see the beam in the distance, a white light shooting up from the darkness. There was an army of husks in the way but if Ivy needed him he had to be there. If her voice was suddenly in his ear telling him she was in trouble he wanted as little between him and that beam as possible.
The front ranks opened fire, they'd hit the husk resistance. Kaidan gripped his assault rifle in both hands. A harvester swooped overhead, casting a shadow over them, preparing to land. The hum of the tanks' cannons priming all around him filled the air and the first salvo sounded, the shells aimed for the harvester, most of them slamming into the ruins of a bombed-out building.
Kaidan felt his pulse quicken, his palms begin to sweat, he could hear his heart pounding in his ears as the husks came into view, slavering cannibals leaping on the soldiers and tearing through their armour. He raised his gun and started to fire.
Save mom. Save dad. Save Ivy.
He charged forward, taking up position and spraying fire from his assault rifle. The shots burst across the skin of the batarian husks, spraying grey-brown ooze over the asphalt. Liara was there at his shoulder, pushing the enemies back with her biotics, shockwaves throwing them off the Alliance troops.
The assault was heavy, the husks only grew in numbers. The MAKO beside him was stuck, a downed telephone pole that threatened to spear the engine being cleared by some brave bastard to get it moving again. Kaidan took cover behind it while it was stopped and motioned his crew to do the same, take a little safety from the harvester that was blasting their ranks with thannix from its perch above the range of the cannons.
"Keep moving!" Anderson roared, helping the young soldier clear the MAKO's path. Kaidan kept the husks off them. Human husks, hundreds of them, were running through the streets, impossibly fast, darting through the soldiers too quickly to hold the line. The tank started moving again, the column of Hammer moving forward. In the distance a destroyer lurched toward them, the tallest shape on the skyline.
Movement was so slow, but they were going forward. It was too hard to aim at husks among them, they'd take each other down with friendly fire. A human husk leapt at Kaidan and he moved fast, slamming the butt of his rifle into its chest, sending it reeling back. Another hit to its head and it fell to the ground. He unloaded a few rounds into it and kept moving.
"Alenko, Shepard's reached the controls," Bau said. A wave of relief coursed through him.
"Can she get it open?" he yelled over the gunfire around him.
"I don't know, we're moving to rendezvous now, she's... fuck!"
Kaidan heard the boom of the Widow through his earpiece. "Bau? Bau talk to me!"
"She's... Shepard what the hell are you... Adir!"
The scream of a banshee pierced the air, cutting through all other noise. Kaidan let his rifle hang in one hand and started balling biotic energy to pierce its barriers, his stomach tightening in anxiety as he tried to get through to Bau. "Talk to me, Bau."
"Shepard has opened fire! She's not letting us near the console! Adir's dead."
Kaidan felt his blood freeze in his veins.
Do you hear that buzzing?
He stepped into a biotic blow, sending everything he had toward the banshee, forcing it back but not injuring it. Violent blue eyes fixated on him.
"Shepard," he gasped into the Spectre channel even as he retreated away from the monster. "Shepard, what are you doing?"
"He's here, Kaidan," her voice was trembling, small. "You don't understand, this isn't what we thought."
"Who's there, Shepard?"
"The boy. The one from Earth."
Oh, God. He barely managed to roll out of the way when the banshee charged, materialising in front of him, long, twisted fingers reaching for him. His biotics were humming, charged with fear.
"Talk to me, sweetheart, tell me about the boy."
He brought down another, harder hit on the banshee, its own biotics flickering around it as its barrier died, the hail of gunfire coming from Garrus and Vega finally reaching it, tearing its skin to shreds as it screamed, the sound shooting straight to the base of his skull.
"The Reapers aren't what we thought, we can't destroy them. I can... I can fix this."
"Anderson! Anderson!" He yelled as loudly as he could, trying to find the admiral. They could already be too late, they needed to get to the beam. He heard the sound of the Widow being fired again through Ivy's radio.
"Alenko, over here!"
Anderson was struggling against two cannibals. Kaidan took them down with his assault rifle, he barely noticed them. "Shepard's indoctrinated."
"What?"
"We need to get to the beam now, she has control of the Citadel."
Anderson's face turned grey, the realisation of their situation hitting him. He stared at Kaidan for a moment, then turned and started bellowing orders, forcing the column forward.
"Keep talking to me, Ivy," Kaidan said. "How are you going to fix this?"
"I can control them. I just have to... Or I can... I can make us part of them."
Anderson was suddenly beside him, grabbing his shoulder. "Can you shut her down?"
Kaidan checked his omnitool. The controls were still there. He could disable her without killing her. She'd be terrified, but not hurt. "What do you mean 'make us part of them'?"
He activated her cuffs and turned off her eyesight.
"We'd be synthetic, cybernetic. It's the final evolution of life."
Kaidan shook his head. There must have been interference or a range problem. "That doesn't sound like a good idea."
"I know, I don't like it."
"Bravo team, offside!" Anderson ordered, then looked at Kaidan. "Come on, we'll have to take a splinter team ahead. If anyone can talk her down it's you."
"My crew, sir."
"If we fail, Hammer might still have a chance, your team can lead them."
Kaidan looked back at Garrus and Liara. He had to keep talking to Ivy, if he fell silent she might do something drastic. "Sweetheart, I'm coming to you, just hold off, we'll talk about this."
"I don't have time, the fleets are bombarding the Citadel."
"Garrus!" he yelled. "We're going ahead, keep Hammer moving!"
"We'll get there, Alenko! Get Shepard out of there!"
The two of them exchanged a nod and then they were out of time. Kaidan sprinted to catch up with Anderson. "I'm nearly there. You wait for me."
"Kaidan, I need to make a decision. Control them or synthesise us."
"Why can't you destroy them?" He was panting as they ran, taking the back streets. There was some resistance but most of the Reaper forces were focused on Hammer. The other soldiers were keeping the husks off him, Anderson's silent mission goal was clear: keep him talking and get him to the beam.
"The conflict between organic and synthetic life will perpetuate without the Reapers. We'll just be leaving the problem for our children. We have to end this, now."
"Is that what you're worried about, sweetheart? Our children?" A brute burst out from behind a wall and Anderson shoved him against the brickwork, the admiral used his body as a shield while the brute rained down debris on them. Kaidan saw stars from the blow to his chest, but kept talking. "You know any kid we have could take on the Reapers single-handedly."
"Our children metaphorically. The crucible requires an organic component, I will be expended."
"Listen to yourself," he tried. "You're talking about killing yourself to save the Reapers."
The brute grabbed one of the young soldiers and with a single swipe tore him clean in half. Blood sprayed over Kaidan, seeping hot under his suit. The dead kid hadn't even had time to scream. The others were trying to get it down, incendiary ammo lighting up its thick hide with streaks of fire.
"Grudges are impractical. My death was pre-determined, it isn't a factor. I have to take the option that saves the most lives. I need to do this now."
"No, no. Just hold on, I can see the beam, I'm coming."
It was true, he could see it. In between the buildings, behind a destroyer. They could make it. The brute fell with a wheezing growl and they kept moving. Kaidan set the pace, sprinting, his rifle clutched tightly in both hands.
Save mom. Save dad. Save Ivy.
They weaved through the back streets, trampling the few husks that came into their paths, unable to slow down for any reason. Two more men fell behind, wrestling with husks. They couldn't stick around to help, the beam was getting closer, the destroyer was focused on the main thoroughfare, they had a chance.
"The crucible's docked, Kaidan. I just have to jump."
"Hackett!" He found the connection to the fleet. "Hackett is the crucible docked?"
"That's a negative, Major," Hackett answered. "We're still waiting on the Citadel opening. We can't keep the crucible secured much longer."
He switched back to Bau. "Bau, is there anything you can do?"
"We're on the lower tier, attempting to bypass the console. No luck so far."
Kaidan closed his eyes for a bare second, still running. The beam was in sight, the destroyer hadn't spotted them. He had no idea what the Reapers were trying to make Ivy do, but he was sure it would render the crucible unusable.
He did something he hadn't done in years. He prayed.
He prayed to God or whoever was listening for just two more minutes, just enough time to get him to that beam.
"Please, Ivy," he breathed. "Please just hold on."
They were on the straight run when the destroyer finally noticed them and a thannix blast tore up the road beside him. He'd never run so fast before, moving on reflex, not even thinking. The bursts of sound – Reaper fire, gunfire, screaming, yelling, the banshee's shriek, the pounding of boots against pavement, the pounding of his heart – it all blurred into white noise around him. All he could see was that beam. Men were dropping like flies around him, shadows falling in his peripheral vision.
The beam was blinding, so bright it lit up the night like it was day. He was so close. Her heard the high-pitched whine of the Reaper's main cannon priming. Time slowed to a crawl and he heard the piercing pop of the Reaper firing.
The world lit up in white and red and he hurled himself into the beam.
