Chapter 35
I was on him in a second, had him pinned up against the wall in three, it took me a couple more seconds more to realize he wasn't fighting back.
"You're making a scene Lawson," he whispered.
"Perhaps we should go and sit down?"
I glared at him, tempted to snap his neck right there and then but he had a point. A corpse would raise questions I didn't want to be answering right now. Still burning with pent-up rage, I dragged him away from the wall and over to the bench he had indicated in the corner of the courtyard.
"That's better," he remarked casually as I dumped him onto the seat.
"To be honest I'm surprised it took you so long to get here."
"You were expecting me?"
He nodded curtly.
"Your father is here. I figured sooner or later you'd probably come for revenge. I don't suppose you brought say, a hundred Alliance marines with you?"
"I take it from your hopeful tone that you and Cerberus are no longer-"
"One big happy family? Not so much no. Everything went to shit after I tried to kill you on Noveria. You remember that Salarian group I was with? Well, I was on loan to them. Never really understood the specifics of the deal, far as I was concerned Cerberus wanted me to tag along with them on a mission and capture you if you happened to show up."
"But then you tried to kill me."
He nodded wearily.
"I almost died trying to bring you in, the least they owed me was the right to take your head. That Salarian taskmaster chewed me out for it though. Said it proved I had no value to the unit and packed me off straight back to Cerberus within the hour. Some thanks right? After I made sure they bagged their prize?"
"The Grandmaster dropped anyone who didn't conform exactly to the mission parameters," Melnar explained.
"He said it was how he ensured that the unit upheld the standard expected of the League."
"Wait. He's with the League?" Kolvar asked in surprise, seemingly taking in my companions for the first time.
"Was. Not that it matters now but we picked him up on Omega once we'd dealt with your friend."
"You were on Omega? I'm guessing that means Vorlak didn't manage to destroy it. He talked about his plans for the station. Did he get his revenge on Aria at least?"
"He..." I paused for a moment, unsure as to why I was indulging the curiosity of this piece of trash. I decided that the longer I could keep him talking the more time I would have to read his reactions.
"He got close. It looked like she was down for the count but he never managed to finish her off."
"Aria T'Loak..." he shook his head briefly. "You would have been doing the galaxy a favour if you'd let him finish the job."
I didn't reply. I couldn't say I entirely disagreed.
"I assume he didn't survive the repercussions of that failure?"
"Don't pretend you actually care."
Alex shrugged.
"I always knew he was a psychopath but well... I respected him in an odd sort of way. There was never any bullshit with him. He could see the way the galaxy was and he just hit back first. It was refreshingly honest. So what did Aria do? Public execution?"
"No actually it was Na- Kroll that got him. Just something else to bear in mind in case you were thinking of trying anything."
Kolvar looked taken aback at this revelation but to his credit he covered it well and was soon grinning up at Nalar.
"Really? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Thought you were one to watch ever since you managed to get away from me on Korlus. So how'd you do it? Bomb? Grenade launcher? Must have been something pretty big to do away with-"
"I strangled him with the very chains he tried to enslave me with," Nalar interrupted with a snarl.
"Wow, old school. Huh, kinda reminds me of that old film where-"
This cozy little chat had gone far enough.
"What did you mean when you called this place the slaughterhouse?" I asked abruptly.
"Hmm? Oh right. After the Salarians shipped me back to Cerberus with a note explaining my 'misconduct' the Illusive Man told me he had no use for operatives that failed to obey his orders. Told me I was going to be "re-purposed" and then they sent me straight here."
"To be executed?"
"To be turned into one of those things. The new Cerberus troopers."
"The ones you showed off to me on the bridge of the Hades?"
"Oh please, spare me the speech about irony right now. I almost died, cost me everything I had left just to bribe one of the guards to slip me into the general population."
You could almost hear the wail of the violins in the background.
"Don't fret too much. I'm sure your rich parents can sub you some funds if you get out of here. Speaking of which-"
"My parents are dead, Lawson."
"Dead?"
"They were in Seattle when Earth was invaded. The Reapers destroyed the whole city, wiped it off the map. The Illusive Man told me before right before he washed his hands of me completely. Nice guy, right?"
His voice was strangely flat and emotionless. I couldn't remember offhand if he'd talked about them much while he'd been my student.
"I'm sorry," I replied automatically.
"Sure. Anyway, you were about to ask me about a way out of here."
I shook my head vigorously.
"Not out. We need to get deeper into the facility-"
"To find your father and exact revenge, yeah, yeah, yeah I get it. Look straight deal on offer here: I help you get to him and then you help me get out."
"And afterwards?"
"We part ways and never see each other again."
'Liar' I thought to myself but outwardly I made every sign of reluctantly agreeing.
"Alright. We'll follow your lead for now. For starters, we need to find a way out of this holding pen."
"Right. See the water feature?"
We could hardly miss it, the lake dominated at least a third of the area we were trapped in.
"Are you suggesting we go for a swim?" I asked incredulously, wondering if there could be some kind of hidden exit beneath the surface. Kolvar laughed.
"Don't be ridiculous Lawson. Just beyond the lake there's a drain cover cunningly concealed in the grass. It leads down into the underground complex."
"It must be locked," I muttered suspiciously. Cerberus would never make such a rookie mistake.
"Yeah, I tried to hack it but I ran into a brick wall. I thought maybe you could get your Salarian to have a look at it."
"I'm not a technician," Melnar retorted but with no real anger behind his words. He probably didn't see Kolvar as someone worth getting annoyed about.
"I'll take a look at it," Nalar grumbled. In response, I simply smiled at him and rubbed his shoulder to show my gratitude. He quickened his pace and within moments we were kneeling in a small enclave next to the drain cover.
"Do you think we can trust him?" Nalar whispered to me while he worked, glancing back at Kolvar to indicate who he meant.
"Of course not," I replied, offering him a wan smile. "But he can be useful in breaking into the facility. And if he tries anything-"
"I'll be watching your back," he growled fiercely.
Without his implants, I could have handled Kolvar with one hand tied behind my back but I didn't bother pointing that out to Nalar. The offer was sweet nonetheless and I expressed my appreciation to him sincerely.
"Thank you. It means a lot to me to have you and the boys looking out for me."
"Um sure. Uh when this is all over, I mean if we manage to complete the mission and rescue your sister, I just uh... That is, would you be interested in-"
The light on the door blinked green to indicate that access had been granted. The hatch opened to reveal a narrow opening leading straight down into the heart of the complex, a set of ladder rungs set into the wall on one side.
"Let's go," Kolvar called out.
We made the climb in silence, sealing the hatch behind us so that we were forced to descend in pitch darkness. No one complained, even in spite of the cramped conditions. The only thing that waited behind us was a chance to return to the slaughterhouse. Even without knowing what my father was up to here, I felt confident I could believe Kolvar on that score.
Still, it didn't entirely make sense yet. Yes, I could see the value (to Cerberus) of having a human refugee facility where they encouraged people to flock in only to turn them into more mindless footsoldiers for the cause. Indeed I had no doubt that was the fate of many of the humans that came here. Knowing as I did the limitations of Cerberus' manpower, I had worked out long ago that they must be running a facility like that somewhere.
What troubled me was that the numbers were too high. Cerberus was fielding an army of thousands, maybe even tens of thousands (disgusting enough) but the group gathered here numbered in the millions. And still refugees of every species were being shepherded through the doors as if Cerberus couldn't get enough of them. Just what the hell was my father doing here?
When we reached the bottom the answer I found was worse than anything I could have imagined.