Chapter Seventy One: Kai Leng
Shepard decided to take Javik instead of EDI. Garrus retained his position in the squad. He chose the turian because of his knowledge of the Citadel. He chose Javik because he hoped the Prothean's biotics would be kinder on the space station than spraying it with bullets. Plus, Javik was going stir-crazy and he was starting to eye the airlock way too seriously.
"You guys, I know this is serious and stuff, but look at how friggin cute this is," Shepard had also decided to take Rosebud along. She was wearing an armor set that was probably the cutest thing Colt had ever seen. He figured that she would be great morale support if they ran into civilians and she could handle herself in a fight. Not to mention that an enormous, angry varren charging at the enemy made offense a lot easier.
Javik grunted with distaste (what an asshole) and Garrus nodded absentmindedly. They were clearly not in the mood for jokes. This, only naturally, made Shepard want to tell jokes more. His arsenal of incredibly bad, inappropriate, and sometimes offensive jokes was at the ready. If Garrus and Javik didn't hate him and his sense of humor by the end of the mission, then he wasn't doing his job right. Shepard got funnier and funnier as things got worse. He figured it was some kind of coping mechanism. Why cry about something when making a tasteless joke about it was far less painful?
"Commander, the drop-zone is hot," Cortez called back. Shepard wasn't eager for this battle. His N7 armor had been melted by being so close to the Reaper's beam on Tuchanka, so he had to wear the awful, bulky Alliance armour. How James could wear it was a mystery.
Colt wasn't about to break the tradition of odd responses, "Shitsticks." Garrus and Javik glared at him. And so it began.
The doors to the shuttle opened up and revealed a losing C-Sec. Shepard watched an unarmored C-Sec officer get shot in the chest four times and a group get killed by well-aimed grenades. He thought it would be bad' but C-Sec was getting decimated. They must've been caught way off guard because no one was wearing armor. Shepard hoped the cavalry had arrived just in time. "We're right in the thick of it. Get to cover!" Shepard shouted while he jumped out of the shuttle. Rosebud trotted next to him, waiting for a command.
"Civil unrest has been reported in the Presidium, Zakara Ward, Tayseri Ward, Bachjret Ward, Kithoi Ward, and Aroch Ward. For your safety please avoid all these areas," an automated VI's voice startled Shepard. The VI just named off the entire Citadel, kinda hard to avoid everywhere.
Shepard fucking hated Cerberus combat engineers. Every time he saw one of those bastards with their turrets his blood boiled. They were always the first people he took down. This particular fight was crawling with them. Their excessive numbers probably meant that Cerberus's battle plans relied on heavy turrets and Atlases throughout the Citadel. Shepard changed his usual high risk-high reward, close combat tactics to a game plan where he kept his distance. It was a good thing that Colt brought his long-ranged weaponry. He hated to neglect his heavily upgraded Disciple but his Carnifex and Phaeston would work just fine.
...
It was a short-lived battle. Shepard used pull on groups of Cerberus troops, while the Javik and him picked off the floating soldiers. Javik would use his pull while Colt's recharged. The two would go back and forth with powers, making killing easy and quick. Garrus and Rosebud killed those that managed to avoid the biotics. All in all they worked like a well-oiled machine.
Shepard was actually extremely impressed with Javik's abilities. He was hoping he could kick the Prothean off his boat, but he was too good to even consider getting rid of. It was pretty disappointing knowing he couldn't get rid of Prothy the Prothean. Rosebud was equally impressive. Her sheer size and oversized fangs made snapping necks effortless.
"Commander Shepard," a weak voice croaked out. His squad continued to check for bodies like they hadn't heard anything, "Commander." Shepard followed the croaking voice up a staircase slick with blood. That's when he saw Bailey.
"Commander Bailey!" Colt was at his side in a second. "How bad? Do you need medi-gel?"
"It looks way worse than it is ," Bailey shifted, making his eyes glaze over with pain. Rosebud made Bailey giggle by licking his face.
"What do you think Chakwas?" Shepard got closer to the gunshot(s?) in Bailey's stomach and brought his hand up to the comm. unit in his ear. Bailey lifted his shirt to reveal two gunshots with medi-gel plastered over them.
"He'll need treatment, but not immediately," Chakwas's answer satisfied Colt.
"Where is the Council?" Garrus came up behind the two.
"Last I heard they split up. I can give you more information if I can get to a terminal," Bailey struggled to stand, so Shepard picked him up and then set him on his feet. It was painful seeing Bailey in this state. The war wasn't supposed to affect him. The Citadel was supposed to be free from this war.
"Can you open it for us?" Shepard asked. Bailey hobbled over to the door's controls. His legs and arms were covered in blood but he still managed to type at the console.
"As long as no one interrupts me with a bullet this time," he muttered. The doors opened and the squad crept through with their guns held high. To their right was a splatter of red. Pieces of skull and presumably brain were stuck to the wall. There wasn't a body, but the sight was still enough to make Shepard nauseous. Someone had died there.
After Shepard gave the all-clear signal, Bailey made his way to a terminal. "Here we go! C-Sec network access courtesy of Cerberus," the happiness in Bailey's voice was kinda sad. The little victories in a losing battle were always sweet.
"How's that gonna help?" Shepard didn't even pretend to know anything about technology. This is why they needed Tali. His version of fixing technology involved lots of kicking and enthusiastic swearing. Actually his whole life was basically those two things.
"Cerberus has control of the main channels, but I can set up a new one. Without it our people have no plan and no chance," Bailey said gravelly.
"Right. Do what you need to do, Commander," Shepard tried to sound like he knew what was happening.
"Hello..." Bailey told the terminal. "I found a warning from Councilor Valern. He was supposed to be here, meeting with the executor." Shepard looked back at the red stain and swallowed hard. "'This may provoke retaliation...' Understatement of the year. If he's in there, he's in trouble."
"Saving one councilor is better than saving zero. Where is he?" Colt was eyeing that stain with extra worry now. That could've been the councilor's body guard.
"He could be in the executor's office. It's a fairly defensible position," Garrus said. Shepard didn't want to know how Garrus knew that.
"I'm on it. Let's go," Shepard started to trudge out of there.
"Just a sec," Bailey's words coincided with Shepard's omni-tool going off. Technology man. "There. Now we can talk by omni-tool. Go!"
...
"We have to stay quiet, okay?" A muffled voice said. Shepard could hear lots of breathing and shifting around in the office complex next to the alley the four were heading down.
Colt gestured for them to follow him. They gathered around the door leading to the building, counted to three, and kicked the door in. As soon as they went in Shepard felt the cool of a gun pressed against his forehead.
The building was dark except for a few emergency lights. The awful lighting cast scary shadows across the features of all the people huddled in this little building. There was row after row of people of all species. Their eyes were wide and terrified. Shepard loathed the terror they projected as a result of his presence. He was supposed to be the essence of safety.
"I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help," Colt never took his eyes off his people when he handed his I.D. to a C-Sec officer. A moment later he felt the gun leave his temple. Sometimes he forgot why he stayed in the Alliance, but moments like this reminded him. He loved people. He wanted to know everyone in the galaxy personally; he wanted to be friends with everyone. He wanted to save and protect everyone, a want which only made his job painful.
"Commander, thank the Spirits. What's the status of the Citadel?" a turian asked.
"It's still under Cerberus's control, but I'm here to remedy that," Shepard told the entire crowd. "Go," this time he talked to Rosebud. She started going around to people and comforting them.
He didn't know what possessed him, but something inclined him to start walking between the rows. He looked at each little unit. Some people were alone, some were with their families. One of the families was an asari, a human male, and two little asari girls. Shepard missed Liara so much that his breathing stopped for a few seconds. He had to remind himself to keep breathing and even then his breaths were labored. He imagined getting shot in the chest would be a thousand times less painful.
People started to put out their hands, lightly touching him. The need to make sure he was one of them, the need to make sure he was real, to see if he was someone besides the face they saw on the vid screens made them touch him. Their hands were gentle. He fed off his people and they fed off him. He breathed in their faith and love for him, while they breathed in his confidence and hope. They gave life to each other and shared their souls without uttering a word. He could feel the hopes and dreams fluttering through the air. That's why he kept fighting. This connection, this love, was the reason.
When he reached the front of the building, where Garrus and Javik waited, he turned around to the group. "Have great lives," he told them. Then he whistled for Rosebud and left the building.
"Garrus, make sure Cerberus can't get in," Shepard asked. The turian typed on his omni-tool for a bit.
"Cerberus will be hard-pressed to get in there with the type of C-Sec encryptions I just put on the door. Until C-Sec opens this door, nothing will get in. They'll stay safe Shepard," Garrus said.
…
"Lamont! Avidius!" Garrus yelled. They had just come into a section with C-Sec offices.
"Jesus! Could you perhaps, I don't know, not give away our position to everyone?" Shepard said. How uncharacteristic of the turian to just announce their position to the heavens. Instead of answering, Garrus suddenly bent down and rolled over a body. The human had brown, curly hair that stopped just below the ear and a slight beard. He actually kinda looked like Colt when he had long hair.
"Garrus?" Shepard put a hand on his friend's shoulder. An explosion of some sort had killed this C-Sec officer.
"We worked together, Shepard," Garrus just continued to stare. Holy shit. What was Colt supposed to do?
"Do you have a thing for humans with brown curly hair?" Shepard just needed to learn to shut his goddamn mouth at these emotional points. He managed to reach a whole new level of assholeness with each awkward attempt at comforting humor.
"You know it," Garrus looked at him, winked, and grinned stupidly. How did that work?...Shepard wasn't going to question it.
Colt got a little bit closer and offered his hand to Garrus. He looked at the dead C-Sec officer for a moment more before taking Shepard's hand. "You gonna be okay buddy?" He asked while pulling Garrus to his feet. Rosebud must've sensed the distress because she forced her head under Gar Bear's other hand. She had magical healing powers.
"We'll see," the turian started looking at other bodies around them. These people were probably his friends, or colleagues at the very least. Shepard remembered that feeling with alarming clarity. Street life, Elysium, and serving the Alliance had not been very kind to the people he loved.
"Get through this mission, drink, and then let this all fester into a mental illness," Shepard was only half-joking but it served its purpose of making Garrus laugh. All the best jokes were truths said in a teasing tone.
"Primitives," Javik muttered. What a delight he was.
Shepard's eye twitched involuntarily, "Come on. We have to get to Valern."
…
Colt gestured at Javik to get the door to the Executor's office. Garrus, Rosebud, and he waited at the edges, and then burst in the room with biotics flaring and guns raised. The walls had been repainted with bullet holes, navy blue blood, and dark green blood. Three bodies were lined up next to each other just in front of the Executor's desk. They had been shot execution style.
"They got the Executor and two salarian body guards," Colt spat. How cowardly and disgusting of Cerberus.
"Damn...But unless Valern's body is there, don't count him out just yet," Bailey answered smoothly.
Shepard started the long process of looking for any clues that could lead to Valern's location. It was hard to see anything besides the pools of blood. Colt saw an object under the enormous desk, so he started crawling to get it. "I got a shoe!" Shepard proudly lifted salarian footwear to show Garrus.
"I got the councilor," Garrus replied. He was looking out a big window.
"What?!" Shepard momentarily forgot that he was under a table, so he tried to stand and hit his head. "Fuck!" He crawled quickly out from under the desk and stood next to Garrus.
About ten feet below them was a large meeting room with a strange patch that was invisible, but the air around it shimmered and was distorted. Shimmering and distortion was a characteristic of a cloaking device. Something Shepard knew Valern had. A chair being moved backwards and the councilor decloaking soon after confirmed Garrus's suspicions.
"Bailey, we found him. He looks unharmed...Well that just made our jobs really easy. Thank God. Now how we do get down to him?" Shepard turned around in hopes of finding a conveniently placed elevator. He never got the chance to find one, instead his super-sensitive ears picked up the sound of boots hitting the ground.
Colt whipped back around. Someone stood in front of Valern and stalked dangerously towards him. The guy didn't look like he was trying to sell cookies to the Councilor, so Shepard let biotic energy pool in his fists. It looked like their way down was going to be through a large window.
Shepard pushed Garrus, Rosebud, and Javik backwards while simultaneously letting his biotics blow out the window. Colt instinctively put his hand up as some glass crashed towards them. He pulled his Carfinax and jumped down ten feet. His full weight of two hundred twenty pounds plus the heavy Alliance armor made quite a sound as his boots crunched against glass shards. His varren jumped down next to him, armor on the bottom of her feet preventing injury.
They swiftly moved up on this intruder. The guy was standing a few feet in front of the Councilor, some sort of energy swirling in his palm. Valern's hands were up and he was shifting his weight foot to foot. "Don't you even think about it,' Shepard growled, staying about ten feet from him.
The Cerberus operative moved sideways, forcing Valern to walk parallel to him. "Shepard, he's going to kill us all," Valern's voice wavered. He always appreciated the Council's votes of confidence.
"That remains to be seen," Colt crept closer. He moved with the Cerberus guy. He never left Shepard's sights. Rosebud's hackles were raised and her fangs were barred.
"I mean Udina. He's staged a coup. The others are heading into a trap," Valern's words made Shepard feel a weird and surprising mix of glee and concern. Concern for the councilors and glee at finally getting an excuse to kill Udina.
The slight groan of armor behind him told Shepard that Javik and Garrus had entered the room. "Four on one, pal. Game over," Colt let biotics dance over his skin to make it clear how sorely out gunned he was.
"No. Now it's fun," the energy in his palm increased. Rosebud started barking, making the whole area rumble. Cerberus guy stopped when a gun was pressed to his temple. Thane.
The operative turned with impressive speed and knocked the gun out of Thane's hand. Since he was distracted, Shepard pulled Valern backwards and behind him. Garrus, Rosebud, and Javik stood next to Colt and formed a protective semi-circle around the councilor.
Thane and the guy were throwing punches and jabs lightning quick. Thane got rolled, but somersaulted next to his gun and fired three times. But the Cerberus operative was gone, Thane's bullets hitting nothing. Shepard pressed closer to the councilor as the maniac was now nowhere to be seen. Shepard formed a biotic blue shield around Valern and himself. The only noise was the creak of armor as they turned and searched for the assassin.
The slight noise of air being manipulated gave away the operative's position. He appeared a few feet from Thane and ran at him with a sword. The drell easily avoided the sword, but Shepard could see his movements slowing down, getting clumsy. Kepral's Syndrome had taken its toll on Thane. In a few seconds things would get very bad very for the drell. Shepard would not let that happen.
Colt let the shield dissipate and gathered more biotic energy. He could feel it growing in his stomach and palms. Energy needed for a charge engulfed every inch of his body and then he was just...there. He ran into Cerberus guy with tremendous force. Both of them flew a feet, but Shepard was on his feet faster. The Commander was going to redecorate with this asshole's brains.
A solid kick to the chest sent the assassin into a wall. He didn't seem to be too stunned and scrambled for his sword. As he started to pick it up, Shepard stepped on the end. Asshole's sword broke into two pieces. Colt had to give him credit for not looking worried, especially considering Shepard was handing his ass to him on a cute little platter. The guy looked around for a split-second before setting his gaze back on Shepard. A bone-crushing punch from Shepard sent him rolling to the right. Blood that didn't quite look right trickled into his opponent's eyes.
Cerberus guy jumped to his feet and pointed his hands at Colt. The clear energy that had threatened the councilor burst from his hand and moved Shepard back twenty feet. This minor setback allowed the operative to start running, but Shepard's superior cybernetic legs carried him across the twenty feet in a matter of seconds. Commander Shepard was only a few feet from him when he jumped into a shuttle. Bullets just bounced off the vehicle as it flew off.
"What's going on up there Shepard?" Bailey asked.
"We have to go take care of an assassin. Valern is safe and we're all okay," Shepard watched the car get smaller and smaller.
"He's probably going to try to kill the rest of the Council," Bailey said.
"Bailey, listen. You need to get the word out about Udina. He's trying to seize power. I've got to get to the rest of the Council," Shepard tried to figure out where the Council would go in this sort of situation.
He said, "Give me a few minutes to pinpoint where they are. I'll contact you when I have it. Bailey out."
Rosebud put her head under Colt's hand for pets. So far, she was doing a fantastic job. "Thanks for intervening Shepard," Thane walked up next to him, "I feared that battle would be my last."
"No problem buddy. I'm just glad you didn't get stabbed by Sir Asshole," Colt turned and looked his friend over for any injuries. He could see none. "Are you doing okay?"
"A little short of breath," Thane gave him a thoughtful look.
"Are you gonna be okay to join us?" Shepard gave him a pat on the arm.
Thane turned to look over the burning Citadel. The view of fighting and Cerberus troopers was unobstructed. "Yes."
"Good. Does anyone know what that guy's name was? I'm getting tired of constantly thinking of him as Cerberus guy," Shepard couldn't watch the Citadel anymore, so he turned to Garrus and Javik.
Garrus said, "According to my visor, his name is Kai Leng."