The Other One:
Once the ball started rolling, it started rolling fast and before long the Normandy crew had a plan tossed together on their next step. Their findings, thanks to Brooks and EDI, had given them valuable clues as to what was going on, but Glyph had pointed them in the correct direction.
The person who was after Shepard was working their way inside the Citadel Archives, using Shepard's own Spectre access code, and they needed everyone to handle the situation.
What really made Kaidan impressed was the number they currently had. People from the old crew, people that Kaidan knew well along with people that Kaidan did not know at all, but who had been part of Shepard's other crew. When Shepard had said "all hands on deck", he had not been kidding, and Kaidan felt that it was a good thing. They truly would need everyone for this, considering just how big the vault was. That and it felt good to be together with the old crew again, even if there were someone missing… Someone who would, and probably could, kick his ass if he as much as dared to mope over the fact that she was gone.
"The facility is located below the Wards," Brooks notified over the shared com-system. "Maybe a direct breach for maximum surprise?"
"I like it. Sounds like you're learning the ropes."
"Hell, hang out with us long enough and you'll learn ropes, knives, bombs, thresher maws…" Cortez added as he took them towards the Wards, a concerned look on his face.
"Easy now, Cortez," Garrus mused as he leaned a little forward to look out the shuttle-window. "You make us sound like we're bad people here."
"Not bad, just… things happen around you," Cortez replied, making Kaidan let out a chuckle.
"That's one way to put it."
"But don't hang out too long," Wrex's gruff voice sounded over the com, making Kaidan smile somewhat. He had missed the krogan, even if he was an asshole. In Kaidan's book, he was the right kind of asshole.
"-or pretty soon you'll be making friends with asari."
"I heard that," Liara's voice sounded after, but further conversations were stopped as the shuttle-cars landed at the Wards, everybody quickly getting out of the vehicles.
The place was eerily silent and Kaidan could tell that everyone was on high alert. There was no telling if any of the mercenaries would be set up as guards at key locations. They couldn't afford to underestimate the mysterious assailant after all, they had already proven to be quite stealthy and capable.
Brooks was quick to move ahead, looking intensely at the ground as she walked. "The archives are somewhere below us. It could be tricky to get in there."
"Not really," Vega replied as he sauntered up to her, the grin audible in his voice as he held up what looked to be some heavy-duty explosives.
Shepard merely grinned before nodding at Vega, giving him the go-ahead to set them up. "Get behind cover, everybody."
"Everybody and their mothers will know that we're here," Kaidan merely commented dryly as he and Liara summoned up shields around the others to protect them from the blast earning a chuckle from the asari.
"Just the way we like it," Vega grinned after setting up the bomb, then quickly joined the others. "Ready?"
Kaidan nodded and together with Liara he strengthened the shield, bracing for impact. "Ready, Vega."
A few seconds later the plates that covered the vents underneath were sent flying as Vega set of the explosives, revealing an open ventilation shaft underneath. Wrex was quick to leave the safety of the biotic shield, his shotgun loaded and ready to be used. "Krogan first! See you at the party, princesses!" he yelled out, laughing as he jumped down into the tunnel and quickly heading into the darkness.
Shepard wasn't far behind with the others following suit, all quickly diving into the unknown as they moved forward.
The way forward was straight ahead, a brief decent down a ladder before the ventilation shaft split into two different directions. Shepard quickly divided the team into two, at least those that were behind him before he himself headed straight ahead and down another ladder. Kaidan was right behind him, already seeing what Shepard's plan was; get both the high and the low ground covered to catch whoever was down there by surprised.
At least, that had been the plan.
Before they could as much as react, several glowing red dots appeared on James' and Shepard's chest armor, making the Commander sigh tiredly. "Not this again…"
With the element of surprise gone, the teams immediately went to attack whoever was aiming for them, with Vega and Wrex immediately heading to take cover in the front.
"It's an ambush," Garrus called out as he cocked his sniper rifle, quickly taking out one of the men attacking them.
"No shit," James called out in response, a hint of amusement in his tone. "I guess the bomb was a bad idea after all, eh?"
"Scatter and take cover, we can talk about the bomb later," Shepard yelled, his own tone more frustrated. "Major, can you cover my flank, I'm setting up a drone."
"On it, Commander," Kaidan yelled, quickly shielding his lover with a biotic shield before focusing his attention on the men attacking.
"In the old days, we had at least five minutes before a mission went south!" Wrex grunted before shouldering one of the assaulters into a wall, the man instantly crumbling down onto the floor.
"Less talking, more shooting," Garrus quipped, sniping down a merch that was heading towards Tali.
The fight was intense, but despite the merch getting the jump on them, they had clearly not expected for Shepard to bring the entire crew, nor the fact that they had a krogan on their side. It seemed to go in their favor until they hit a snag in their plan.
"That's enough!"
The voice, gruff and angry, caught Kaidan somewhat of guard, but he recognized it as the same voice they had heard in the casino.
"Drop your weapons, or this won't end well for her."
The man moved slowly towards them from the balcony, showing that he had his arm around Brooks' throat and a gun aimed straight at her head, keeping her in clear view while remaining in the shadows.
"You bastard," Brooks growled, struggling against him as he shifted his aim towards Shepard instead.
Shepard took a quick look around to assess the situation before slowly lowering his gun as he saw that they were surrounded. "All right…"
The man said nothing as he released Brooks from his grasp, pushing her down from the balcony. The fall wasn't great, but Brooks still gasped in pain as she landed, curling up for a moment as she tried to shake off the shock.
Shepard frowned and Kaidan could tell that he wanted to help her but being unable to.
"Whatever you think you're getting away with…" he said instead, bringing his steely gaze up towards their mysterious foe instead. "… there's nowhere you can run, nowhere you can hide where we can't find you."
"Hide? Why?" the man asked with a sneer as Brooks quickly returned to Shepard's side. He took a step forward, moving out of the shadows, revealing a set of blue eyes that Kaidan knew all to well. In just one movement the man had managed to knock the breath out of him as well as the others in their team and one glance towards Shepard told Kaidan that the man felt the same way.
"I'm Commander Shepard. I never hide."