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Shepard got painfully to her feet, every muscle protesting the movement. Slowly she took inventory. Ribs, for sure, possibly broken, more likely cracked. One ankle hurt badly, but it held her weight, so she assumed it was only sprained. Pain in her elbow, and a dull throb at the collarbone. All things considered, it could have been worse, she reflected.
Also, she was soaking wet and freezing. Nothing to be done about that but get out of here—wherever here was.
She appeared to be in some kind of tunnel system behind a strip of stores. Warehouses and storage units. She'd have to get to a more public location to find any kind of transport. As she began to move forward, limping as best she could, her foot hit something hard that slid across the floor. A pistol. Not hers; maybe it had belonged to one of the mercs. Picking it up with some difficulty—it was hard to bend over, and even harder to straighten up—she hefted it. It felt nice in her hands, light and well balanced.
As she came out of a cold storage unit for a fish shop, reflecting that if she never saw, or smelled, another fish again it would be too soon, her comm link buzzed.
"Commander? Commander Shepard?"
It was hard to place the voice. Shepard frowned, thinking back to where she had heard it before. "Brooks?" she guessed at last.
"Oh, Commander, I'm so relieved you're all right!"
"You, too. How's the injury?"
"Good, good, good! I took medi-gel. I took a lot of medi-gel."
Shepard smiled at the hyped-up sound of Brooks' voice. "Sounds like you took more than you needed to."
"You think so? I feel all bouncy."
"Lucky you," Shepard muttered. She had come to a ladder down to the next level, and was working up the nerve to climb down it in her current condition.
"Are you okay down there?" Brooks asked, no doubt alarmed by the groans escaping Shepard as she navigated the ladder.
At the bottom, Shepard took a deep breath. "Yup," she told Brooks. "Feeling good." At least, until she saw that she would have to climb down another ladder. At least it was down, not up, she told herself.
"So, can I help with … anything?" Brooks asked through the comm.
Shepard let her breath out as she reached the bottom of the ladder. "I'm looking for a way out. Why don't you alert C-Sec, so they can come get me." Across the way, she saw a good extraction point. "I see some skycars down here. Maybe a landing pad? If you can get a shuttle over there, I'll find a way across."
There was a silence, and then Brooks' voice came back. "Um, it looks like C-Sec has the whole area locked down. It's going to be a tiny bit tricky to get you a shuttle."
That seemed odd, that C-Sec wouldn't even send a unit, but Shepard was too tired and in too much pain to stop and think that through.
Brooks' voice came through again. "Also, stay off your comm. Um, except for me. It's hacked. That's probably how they found you."
Shepard wished she was as hard to find on a normal day as Brooks seemed to think she was. "Do we know who these guys are?"
"No, but they really don't seem to like you."
"Yeah, I'm sensing that."
She kept moving, coming into a market area. From here it should be a straight shot across the way and up to the skycar lot. She tried not to think about how she was going to get up there—or about the mercs she saw patrolling the streets between her and her destination.
Her comm pinged again. "Shepard? Can you hear me? You okay?"
Relief flooded her at the sound of Kaidan's familiar voice. "I'm fine," she told him. "Could use some backup, though."
She could hear his relief to match hers as he responded. "It's good to hear your voice. Joker told me what happened. I'm on my way—on foot, but not far."
It was amazing how heartening it was to know he was coming. Shepard felt stronger just hearing him say it.
Then Brooks' voice crackled through. "Excuse me, who is this? You're on an unsecured channel and you're putting Commander Shepard in danger!"
"I'm what? Who is this?" Shepard couldn't help but smile at Brooks' indignation and Kaidan's confusion in response.
"Staff Analyst Brooks, Spectre Alenko. Play nice," Shepard told them both.
Then another voice, a little breathless. "Liara here. I just heard. All of us are on our way."
"Good to hear. Things are a little dicey." Taking cover, Shepard picked off two mercs with clean head-shots. She only wished Garrus had been here to see them.
"Of course they are."
Frowning, Shepard released a burst of fire, mowing down a few more of the mercs. She'd found a few heat sinks on her way, and she jammed another one into the gun. It was a good little weapon; she was definitely keeping it.
"Shepard, what are you doing?" Kaidan asked. "I could hear that from here."
"It's all under control." She took out another merc around the corner and darted across the passage as quickly as she could to new cover.
"There are alarms going off across the Wards. What's happening? Shepard, I think we need to sit down and have a chat about your methods," Liara told her.
"My methods? I was trying to have a nice dinner when I got attacked!"
"Somehow that's always the way it happens."
Ignoring Liara, Kaidan asked, "What do we know about these mercenaries, anyway?"
"They have guns, and they don't like me," Shepard answered.
"Very helpful. Thanks."
She was just about to respond to Kaidan's sarcasm when Brooks voice came through, anxious and officious all at once. "Commander, it would be really helpful if you could stay off your comms!"
"What? They called me!" Shepard protested. The ladder up to the skycar showroom was in front of her, though, and at that she did click off her comm, not wanting Kaidan or Liara—or this Brooks person, for that matter—to hear whatever sounds of pain she'd be making on her way up.
She was pretty sure she'd picked off all the mercs, but she took a moment just to be sure. "Amonkira, Lord of Hunters," she whispered, "guide my feet and obscure the aim of my enemies. Just until I get up to the top of the ladder."
As it often did, prayer made her feel closer to Thane, which made her feel stronger. Clenching her teeth against the pain, she started up the ladder.