"Shepard! Evac is incoming, but they cannot pick us up from the ground if it is swarming with Reapers!" EDI announced.
"We need higher ground! Keep going!" Shepard's battlefield scream cut through the noise of swarming Reapers, the rapport of multiple firearms, and the occasional bang of grenades. "EDI! Find us a spot!"
"This way!" EDI commanded, breaking off at an oblique angle to their previous line of retreat.
"Go, go, go!" Garrus shouted.
Tali's shoulder ached from a badly executed throw, and the gunk still clogging her nose made breathing difficult. She staggered as she hit the stairs, following EDI's platform, the rest of the team stumbling first into the building, then clambering up the stairs.
The cannon might be down, but it seemed as if 'every Reaper in Reaperville' had showed up to protest. From the first floor came the loud sound of several grenades exploding in short succession.
Her legs burned as she continued climbing the stairs, Liara and Garrus close behind.
Up ahead, EDI threw open another door, turned, and led them up another flight of stairs.
The building didn't have a roof. The roof had been sheared off at some point, leaving portions of the walls in place, but a generally indoor space exposed to the outdoors. EDI bounded over to the lowest point of crumbled wall. "There is a fire escape. We need someone to pull it down."
Alenko appeared a moment later, wreathed in blue light. He spotted the fire escape and, with the delicacy of someone picking a lock, jiggled the ladder until it slipped free and extended.
EDI made a running jump, hit the ladder and scrambled up. From the roof of the next building over, she leveled her pistol, presumably to provide supporting fire.
"I'll lift you across," Alenko said, putting a hand on Tali's shoulder. He didn't give her time to argue or agree, simply removed his hand, wrapped her in a biotic field and moved her from the exposed room to the ladder.
"I'm there!" Tali called back. The biotic field disappeared as Tali began to climb, thinking that they really should have sent the long-range weapons in first.
"Shepard, the ground forces are reconsidering their tactics," EDI announced. "They have abandoned your building and are attempting to climb this one."
"I wish they hated stairs as much as I do!" Shepard shouted back.
"They cannot use the stairs in this building, as the stairwell has collapsed. They are attempting to scale the walls."
"Ledges are a good thing!" Liara, just having arrived, announced. "We've got four walls and three biotics—it'll have to do!"
"All we have to do is hold for a few minutes!" Vega barked. "Shit—there is no way I'm making that juuuump!"
"No need," Alenko assured him, ex post facto, if Tali was any judge.
"Is everyone across?" Shepard panted.
"Javik just went, you're the last!"
"Alenko! Just grab her and jump! I'll catch you!" Liara called, moving over to the fire escape.
Alenko must have done so, because he and Shepard appeared, levitated onto the roof, a moment later, Liara backing up to give them space to land.
-J-
Everyone turned when Tali yelped, her shotgun barking a moment later to take off the head of an enterprising marauder. "I hate those things!" Tali growled.
Liara couldn't help but feel there was a personal reason for this. Marauders looked like Saren. Tali's boyfriend was a turian. It made sense for there to be some personal dislike. Then again, who did like Reapers? No sensible sapient.
Alenko let go of Shepard, staking out one wall.
"Vega, Tali! With me!" Shepard barked, staking out another wall.
Liara and Javik also took a wall each, Garrus joining Javik and EDI joining Liara. Within moments, Reapers began appearing, having scaled, as EDI indicated they had to, the outer faces of the building the ground team was now on.
"I don't like not being able to get off this roof!" Garrus called nervously.
"I'm not loving it either, we just need to buy a little time!" Shepard shouted back over the sizzle of her particle beam.
"There's no end to these things!" Vega…reported? Complained? It was hard to tell.
Sweat dripped down Liara's skin as she swatted another several Reapers off the roof and into the space beyond, hoping the fall would damage them enough to keep them from getting back up. Or maybe the Cannibals on the ground would just eat them. The Cannibals did seem to have some trouble with climbing vertical walls. Or maybe they were just opportunists, having a bite before they really got involved. She hoped it was a disinclination for climbing. Apart from the Banshees, Cannibals grossed her out the most.
"Just a little longer!" Shepard repeated, then yelped, then grunted.
"I got it!" Vega barked. The sound of something hard impacting something offer, then a lot of gunfire.
"I'm okay!" Shepard panted.
It sounded like one of the Reapers had gotten past the gunfire and tried to physically assail Shepard.
"They are having trouble locating us." EDI suddenly stopped firing, produced a flare from her web gear, lit it, and tossed it towards the middle of the roof.
"Well, if they can't find us, everything else in the area can!" Javik answered…though it sounded oddly like an observation and not at all like a complaint.
"It's not like the Reapers don't know where we are!" Shepard returned. "Keep your eyes sharp!"
"Shepard! They have a lock! They only need a few more minutes!" EDI shouted. She had to shout because a Banshee's scream tried to cover the rest of her words.
Liara pivoted, spotted the ghostly biotic light wreathing the skeletal, misshapen figure closing on Shepard, Tali and Vega, all of whom were firing. For once, Shepard had abandoned her three second burst, and was forcing the Banshee to give her its full attention.
Suddenly, a shuttle sped in, slamming its nose into the Banshee, sending it flying into the darkness.