Chapter 38
"I'm glad you're here Lang. You've done good work in breaking through to our position but I'm afraid we may still have some additional problems for you and your team to tackle on the lower levels. It seems that..."
My father's words trailed off at this point. Kai Lang wasn't paying him any mind at all. In fact, his attention seemed to be entirely fixated on me. Pacing back and forth at the other end of the room like a panther preparing to strike. An interesting comparison that was very much exaggerated by his chosen appearance. The overall theme was black, which was shared by the sleek armour covering his body, the mess of long hair cascading down the back of his neck and the sides of his face, and last but by no means least the mask covering his eyes save for two white slits which he was presumably able to see through.
The whole ensemble gave him the look of a bad cartoon villain (which was often mirrored by his attitude) but despite this he wasn't to be underestimated. As he strutted back and forth I got the impression he was restraining himself, trying to decide how he wanted this exchange to play out.
"What are you here for Lang?" I asked.
"The Illusive Man sent me to secure the situation. And the research data."
"Ah yes of course. No doubt he must be anxious to start moving on to the next phase of the project. As soon as we've wiped out the remaining Reaper forces, I'll-"
"No."
"I'm sorry?" my father sounded confused and annoyed.
"The data is my first priority. Once I have it in my possession we'll make arrangements to evacuate the key personnel from this facility. Yourself included, of course," Kai finished with a smile.
"He's lying. As soon as he has what he came for he'll leave us to rot. It's what I would've done," I responded instantly and immediately his smirk slipped for a second.
"I don't recall asking for your opinion, traitor," he replied with a snarl.
"Actually I'm forced to agree with my... 'daughter'. The research data stays with me until every last Reaper soldier has been driven off Horizon."
"I'll personally guarantee your safety, Mr. Lawson," Lang stated patiently, through gritted teeth.
"No, I don't think so. In fact, as the highest-ranking Cerberus associate present, I think it falls to me to commandeer your forces and take charge of this situation personally. Kolvar, please disarm Mr. Lang and take him into protective custody until I can decide what to do with him."
There was a short stunned silence as everyone present tried to grasp my father's towering ego and his fundamental misunderstanding of the situation. Kolvar recovered first.
"Fat chance," he laughed.
"In fact, Mr. Lang. May I call you Mr. Lang? My loyalty has always been with the true leaders of Cerberus and I think you might find that I have a number of skills that you might find usef-"
"Do you know where the research data is?" Lang asked, focusing on Kolvar for the first time.
"Well not as such but I-"
We never even saw him move. That's how fast Kai Lang's new enhancements make him. The first thing that alerted me to his actions were the three inches of steel protruding from Kolvar's back as Kai stabbed him through the heart. Kolvar gave a single pained gasp as he fell; his final scheme had backfired spectacularly.
Moments later the shooting started. We had more of our troops in the room than Lang but his were Phantoms. Two of them were killed outright, their shields ripped apart by gunfire before they had a chance to cloak. The others vanished, slipped into the corners of the room, and started picking off our fighters one by one.
As for Lang himself, he was at my side in a second trying to cut me in half. I activated my omniblade in an attempt to block but he twisted the angle of his attack and managed to slash across the omnitool itself. In a flash of sparks, the blade flared and vanished, leaving me defenseless. Instantly he launched into another attack and I was forced to expand the bubble of my biotic barrier to knock him back.
That bought me some time but I could feel a thin trickle of blood running down my upper lip from the effort it had taken. I had already used up most of my energy trying to hold back the tide of Reaper forces. If I wanted to stay conscious in this fight I would have to hold my biotics in reserve. To do that I would have to fight him hand to hand and I'd have to keep him off balance to stop him from getting up to full speed.
To that end, I charged straight at him and we met in the center of the room fighting with the ferocity of lions. I sidestepped his first swing and tried to come in with a punch to the face which he easily ducked. I brought my hand back to wrap around his back and pull him into towards me while I powered my knee towards him at full strength. He caught it one-handed and used the leverage to push me flat out onto my back. As he charged in to try and deliver a killing blow before I could recover I landed a foot in his gut that gave him pause.
I used the reprieve to get back on my feet but he was ready for me before I could press the advantage. We traded blows back and forth, each putting the other on the ropes only for them to pull something out of the bag at the last second (even if this occasionally meant I had to break out the biotics again). But as the fight progressed the fatigue started to tell. I'd been exhausted before we even began, he wasn't even out of breath yet.
I don't know why we broke off our battle at the moment that we did. But like a sixth sense had hit us both we both stepped back to regather our strength just in time to see my father making a break for it. So far as I could recall he'd spent most of the battle cowering behind the main control unit in the center of the room. Obviously, I'd been distracted when he finally managed to pluck up the courage to make a break for the elevator. He stood at the doors now with Oriana as a human shield; a pistol pressed flush to her head.
The elevator pinged and the doors opened behind him. Lang gave a curse and tried to bring his gun to bear on them only to be knocked sideways by a biotic Push that left dark spots dancing in front of my eyes. As soon as the dizziness faded, I turned back toward the elevator only to see that my father had already made his escape. Seconds later Kai Lang was back on his feet but he quickly departed the room by another door. Judging by the brief shimmering in the air, the rest of his cloaked Phantoms went with him.
The room was quieter now, as the whirlwind of battle had moved past it leaving devastation in its wake. Over half our remaining fighters were now packed into what was left of our command center, having rushed to our aid as soon as they'd heard the gunfire. The Phantoms had cut a swathe through our men but most of them had also fallen as reinforcements had flooded the room. Nearby Melnar was helping a visibly shaken Kallen up from his hiding spot and Marie was applying Medigel to Jackson where he had been hit in the right shoulder.
"We need to get out of here," Kallen stated bluntly.
I turned toward him violently, ready to chew him out for the suggestion. It was only his lack of reaction that held me back. He looked tired, upset, and resigned but not afraid.
"What are you talking about? They took care of the Reapers and there's only a handful of them left," I pointed out coolly, with as much patience as I could muster.
"I was trying to tell you before that... Whoever he was came by. Surviving Reaper troops are in the base now, releasing as many of your father's experiments as they can."
"So we kill them," Jackson said fiercely.
Kallen shook his head wearily.
"It's too late for that. If we'd moved as soon as I warned you then maybe but now? They'll be too many of them set loose for us to shut them down and we don't have time to set up a defense perimeter to cover that many angles of attack and most of our guys are pretty much exhausted anyway so-"
"Bottom line?" Marie asked tentatively.
"We're already overrun we just don't know it yet,"
Melnar translated.
"I think he could be right."
"Do we actually have a way out?" Jackson asked dubiously.
"I- I may have a way," Kallen stammered, looking around as if he was expecting criticism at any moment.
"Hey, no judgment here. Just tell us what you've got," Marie said with a smile. I nodded my agreement.
"No clean exit," he muttered. "I might be able to find us a path to the shuttles that skirts the Reapers."
He pointed to a path marked out on one of the monitors.
"Looks pretty dicey but it's better than sitting here I guess," Melnar proclaimed cheerfully after taking a look at the proposed route.
"Okay then, time to roll out people. Everyone with a gun, grab all the ammunition you can find, everyone else that isn't wounded try and do what you can to help those that are. We move in five. Nalar? Miranda? Look alive we need to get going," Jackson called out.
"I'm not going," we replied, almost in unison. On hearing each other's proclamations we turned to face one another.
"Ooookay, I'm gunna leave you two to work out what that's all about. Everyone else, get your arses in gear, we've got places to be, people!"
He marched off into the next room, still bellowing orders at the top of his voice.
"Nalar, I-" I began.
"Miranda, please. We both know that you're going to stay and go after your sister. Someone needs to stay and watch your back in case that lunatic pops up again."
"You know I can take care of myself. The others need you more. They don't have enough men to protect all those civilians by themselves."
"Miranda I-"
"I need you to go with them. Please."
He gave a small nod of acceptance and stepped back.
"What will you do? After you find her I mean."
"Try and find a corner to hide us in maybe. I'll get us out of the facility if I can. Given how few Reapers are left we should be able to keep out of their way for a couple of days if we're lucky."
"I'll come back for you as soon as I can. Just promise me one thing, Miranda."
"I'll do my best."
"Don't do anything reckless while I'm not around to catch you."
The kiss caught us both by surprise I think. The physical sensations felt slightly strange and unfamiliar as this was my first time with a Batarian but it felt right and necessary at the same time. By the time I pulled away he was staring at me as if he could barely believe I was real.
"I never thanked you properly for that," I whispered, recalling our misadventure on Korlus. And then I was gone, through the door that Kai Lang had left by and heading deeper into the belly of the beast.
It was time to get my sister back.ck./span/p