Hey, y'all just to clarify something from last chapter since I got a review and a couple PM about it. At the end of the chapter they were surprised about Cerberus, not Torchbearer's actions. Just remember that in the lore Cerberus wasn't really a known factor until during the first game. Specifically either during the Threshar Maw side quest or after Feros. I'll be touching on both of those for a bit.
Sorry to say it but we won't be getting to Noveria for a bit. I got a lot planned for this gap and it's where we'll see the most growth in Aedon and Torchbearer.
Did a little editing the day after the release of this chapter. Noticed that there was a bit too much swearing. Took most of them out, just didn't really feel the words worked in this chapter.
Anyways, enjoy the chapter.
*POV: Tali'Zorah
During Aedon's… no. Torchbearer's interrogation and what had been revealed I immediately set to scouring the details of the ship. Anything that could give me any sort of advantage in looking for spies. From places that could be used for dead drops to easy places for bugs. Who could have access to any of them and all the security footage from when we've been off the ship. Anything that could be useful.
As much as we have to rely on other Quarians to survive, we are no stranger to this type of espionage. We have thousands of ships in the fleet and the ones that get the best gear are the ones that are the most important and give the most back to the fleet. Basically anyone in any type of position of power will look to screw over other ships to get the best gear. Never to the point of endangering others, more like corporate sabotage.
Damn bosh'tets on the Admiralty Board even encouraged it. Never openly but my father said they encourage the competition because it betters the Fleet. Can't say I don't agree there but it didn't sit right with me. At least now all that info would be put to good use and helping here is imperative.
"Conference room. Now," Shepard growled out breaking my thoughts and the tense silence that had begun to develop. We all left wordless.
Shepard storming out the door first with Ashley and Liara hot on his heels, as usual. Garrus and Wrex were next and finally Aedon and I, with me behind him. Thinking of Aedon now as I walked behind him, this interrogation had shown a new side to him. One that confirmed a small working theory about him to me. Besides the fact that he had a surprisingly cute butt… stop it Tali! No, it confirmed to me that Torchbearer and Aedon were two different people.
Aedon was the man. The one who worked hard, endearingly curious, and caring. A protector of people, who others could look up to and also a leader. He was practically a second Shepard with his presence and that when he spoke people listened. Aedon valued life and would do anything to protect it. He hated to fail and would never stop trying or give up. That man could take anything the galaxy threw at him and he would throw it right back.
Torchbearer was different. Torchbearer was the killer. The sociopath hell bent on getting the job done no matter the cost. He would be the one who would willingly sacrifice the protection of others to make sure something got done. Torchbearer would rip you to shreds to the point where you'd be nothing but a vegetable and then smile about it. He relished in chaos and pain. I saw him in that interrogation, the smile might have been fake but the eyes never lie in humans. He enjoyed inflicting pain on that man and he would've gone farther if he needed to, no doubt in my mind.
In short, Torchbearer was the man that had half the Citadel's business people flee the station after only 3 reported missions. Aedon was the one who got Quarians out of there and willingly took a bullet for one of them. Never mentioning it and just saying he was doing what he thought was right. Both were equally frightening and arousing… Damnit Tali!
"You good Tali?" Aedon's voice broke me out of my thoughts. I tried to regain my composure but just looked nervous, Aedon was surprisingly good at reading body language too. It was frankly a bit frustrating.
"Y-Yeah. I'm good," I said emphatically, nodding my head.
"C'mon then," as he said that he opened the door to the conference room and we walked in together. Me taking a chair and him standing off to the side. I wasn't even fully seated before Shepard wheeled on Aedon.
"How the did you know about Cerberus before us?" he demanded. I could see his hand twitching towards his pistol and in response I did the same. As did literally everyone else in the room except for Aedon.
"My mentor. He told me about them and to stay as far away from them as possible. Like he told me and like I said earlier: Cerberus doesn't care about human supremacy, they only care about Cerberus supremacy."
"And if they were only about human supremacy?" Ashley challenged. She had her hand on her weapon and was about to draw it but Wrex was faster. He had his shotgun in hand pointed at her face.
This resulted in everyone getting their respective guns out and pointing it at each other, except for Aedon and Shepard. Once this happened my shields indicated they were being overcharged, only Aedon could do that. Sparing a quick look towards him he gave no indication of what he was doing.
"I know his mentor girl. If Aedon here was like that he would've killed him," It did not diffuse the situation at all and now the silence was far more tense than before.
"Thank you Wrex but let's all calm down," Aedon said, throwing his hands out and motioning them down trying to diffuse the situation. "As for the question Shepard, I've already been approached by them and I told them the same thing I'll tell you right now. Cerberus can get fucked for all I care. They're nothing but racists and bigots who only look for the supremacy of themselves and no one else. No matter what they say they only look out for themselves and no one else. I refuse to work with people like."
Shepard didn't move or say anything for what felt like an eternity as he looked at Aedon. What did it though was when Aedon took off his helmet and looked Shepard in the eyes. Once he did that it was only a second before Shepard nodded at him.
"Put your weapons away. Everyone," he barked and we all did. "What else can you tell us about them?"
"Honestly not much. Just that Cerberus' leader is called The Illusive Man, I call him Tim for short. And the fact that apparently Timmy and the Shadow Broker have a feud between them."
"Could we exploit it?" Liara asked. That was surprising. Aedon shrugged before responding.
"Maybe, but to my knowledge they have a sort of non aggression pact between each other. I don't screw with you, you don't screw with me. So if we tried we'd have to give the Shadow Broker something juicy. Even then, I wouldn't recommend it. It would just paint a target on the back of everyone here. Best to just steer clear of the Shadow Broker."
"Isn't he an information dealer? It would just be an exchange right?" Kaiden asked and that brought chuckles from both Wrex and Aedon.
"Nothing is ever that simple with the Broker kid. You ask one thing from him and then you're done, better to just stay away. Besides, if you think Cerberus has influence than you'd shit yourself at the influence the Shadow Broker has," Wrex stated.
"He could wipe us all out and all he'd have to do is make a couple calls. Rule #1 of the underground: Don't screw with the biggest stick. And the Shadow Broker has far and away the biggest stick. I'd rather fight a Thresher Maw with nothing but a knife than piss off the Broker," Aedon said picking it up from Wrex.
"Then what are our options?" Garrus asked.
"Cerberus is too big for just us," Shepard began. "But we can screw with them and we've got the intel to do so. We'll start there but I want everyone on this ship vetted immediately. Tali, I want you to check everything you can. If there is a discrepancy pull its string until something comes of it. Garrus, be a detective but don't be conspicuous. Both of you report to me and me alone. Everyone else, go about your business as usual but if you see something let me know. Aedon and Garrus stay, the rest of you are dismissed."
Standing up I made sure to be the last one to leave. I looked at Aedon and he stared impassively back at me. We held eye contact for just a couple seconds before he nodded and gave me a small smile before turning to Shepard and Garrus. I smiled on my way out the door.
*POV: Aedon Wy(Torchbearer)
Well, that was a lot tenser than expected. At least no one died or actually fired a shot, that would've guaranteed a Reaper victory. That being said I want to direct us to Noveria right now but if I did that then there would be way too many questions. Questions that couldn't be answered and would land me in an asylum. At least we were making good progress on the side missions and everything else. Still hadn't found Wrex's armor or Dr. Saleon but we got Tali's info earlier.
For now though we would go through with everything else and If my theory was correct then after Noveria the Council would tell us of Virmire. That would lead us to Ilos and from there into the endgame. That wasn't to be for at least a little, who knows how long at this point. Which left us with one option, to fuck with Cerberus in any way we could and go after side missions.
"Wynne," Shepards sharp voice broke me out of my thoughts.
"Yes sir?"
"Do you think you can work some magic in the underground? See if anyone wants to screw with Cerberus?"
"I can try. Though, I'd rather go back to the Citadel to do so. At this point any outgoing messages are subject to interception."
"Good thing we're going to the Citadel then," Shepard gave me a sly smile. One that I returned.
"What about me sir?" Garrus cut in.
"Get that favor ready. We'll get to the Citadel in two days and then to the Artemis Tau cluster, specifically the Sparta system. I want a Turian vessel on standby there."
"Why sir?"
"Because we're being shadowed and with this coming to light there's no doubt in my mind it's Cerberus."
"What will they need to do?"
"Disable the ship. Short range emp and we'll handle the rest."
"When will we be there?"
"Four days from now. Two days to the Citadel, we'll pick up some new gear. Wynne will talk to the underground and then we'll be on our way. And then it's another two days to the Sparta system."
"I'll make the call. Your room right?" Shepard just gave him a nod and he was off.
As soon as he was out of the room Shepard let out a long and exhausted sigh. "What have we landed in the middle of?"
"C'mon sir. The only easy day was yesterday," couldn't help myself, Shepard wasn't particularly amused.
"That's one way to put it alright. I don't like being this much in the dark about this. I'll have to talk to Anderson and Hackett."
"Fine by me sir. You need me anymore?"
"No, you can go. Try and get some training in with Ashley and the others. They probably need to blow off some steam about now."
"Aye, aye sir."
The next two days went by quickly. Nothing on the scanners as we hightailed it to the Citadel. The only thing that we even did the entire time was train, clean our weapons and hang out. Though from Ashley and Kaiden there was visible tension between them and the rest of the crew.
The crew didn't notice but everyone on the ground team could see how they were acting and not trusting any of the crew anymore. Shepard had to talk to them both just so the crew or any Cerberus agents in here wouldn't get suspicious. It wasn't perfect but by the time we got to the Citadel it seemed that they were getting better. Thank god for small mercies.
Speaking of possible Cerberus agents Tali had been working overdrive on finding anyone who could be a traitor. She had some serious intuition on this which surprised the hell outta me, gotta be something about Quarian culture. At least, that would make the most sense to me. Still, she had already given a list of four names to Shepard on people who were the most likely to be spies.
None of the names were ones that I recognized but they all fit the bill. Late editions for crew members who were sick or couldn't make the Normandy's mission. All worked in areas that she expressed would be perfect for dead drops or to send info out. At least we had something to work with. By the time we reached the Citadel Garrus was already working on finding out more about those four and Shepard said that if he got any confirmation he'd set met loose. That was perfectly fine with me.
Now on the Citadel though I was making my way to Frank's. He'd really be able to help me out with the underworld part. Honestly, I didn't see it much working out but if we could sick some mercenaries on a few of the Cerberus bases all the better. If the worst comes to pass then we could send the other council races after them but that wouldn't end well for us. All of Cerberus' dirty laundry would definitely be blamed solely on humans.
That being said, Shepard had given me a list of the bases that the Mercs could go after. It was most of them to be honest with only about 3 of the 15 we knew about being left to us. That was perfectly fine with me. Made our life easier and let us take more side missions as we waited for info about Noveria to come through.
Stepping through the door to Frank's place he wasn't behind the desk as usual. Instead it was Miss T'Kari and Volio. Wonder why that was? From there looks though it couldn't be good, they looked worried and sad at the same time. Their expressions brightened when they saw me but something was off.
"Everything okay?" I asked right away and their smiles at seeing me faltered.
"Ceelo is missing."
"He's been missing since your last visit to the Citadel," Miss T'Kari and Volio said in that order. Ceelo would never just disappear, what's going on?
"Any leads?" They both shook their heads.
"No. His apartment was shot to hell and there were a couple bodies but nothing of Ceelo."
"Any ID's on the bodies?"
"No, but they were all professionals. Teeth filed down and fingerprints removed. These were the professional of the professional."
"Cerberus?" They stilled at the name and exchanged glances before answering.
"Probably. They were all human and any merc group would be easy to spot," Volio answered with a clenched jaw and anger in his voice.
"Well, I come bearing good news then," I stated as I turned around and locked the door. "Let's head downstairs. Frank there?" They both nodded and Miss T'Kari opened the door for Volio and I letting us through.
As we headed down the stairs I could hear Frank shouting at someone. I never, and I mean never, heard that man shout and rarely ever angry. Now, in his voice his anger was palpable. Ceelo wasn't the best of friends to me but he definitely went way back with Frank and had earned his respect. Something that was admirable to anyone. When he saw us, me specifically he abruptly ended the call saying he'd call back.
"Good to see you kid," he said, hugging me. I hugged back.
"Heard about Ceelo," he gave me a grim look and nodded. "I can't help with that unfortunately but I plan on finding out about it. For now though, I need you to open all your contacts after I give you this info."
"Go on," was his simple answer and he crossed his arms and leaned on the table. Volio and Miss T'Kari in the background standing ready.
"Here is a list of 12 Cerberus facilities. We can't exactly pay for Mercs to assault the places but if they do everything they find is theirs and theirs alone," with that I sent him the list of the bases locations. He looked them over and then a very feral grin came across his face.
"This will do perfectly. I know plenty of people who would love this deal," Volio and Miss T'Kari also adopted feral grins as they heard that. No way they weren't going to be joining in on the fun. This was personal for them and it was for me now too. Cerberus would rue this day.
"I can't do much since I'm with Shepard right now but we'll be going after Cerberus all the same. They're exposed and we're going to burn them."
"That's fine. Your mission takes priority. You make sure to hit them as hard as you can though," Frank stated standing up straight and stared me in the eye.
"Of course."
"Good. Now, get. I got some calls to make and a hornets nest to burn."
"God's speed."
"The same to you kid," and with that I left. Shepard would be pleased with this development.
Leaving the store and the area I made my way to Chora's Den for a drink. Not the most savory of places I know but the drinks were far cheaper there than anywhere else. Ordering a drink from the far as soon as I could to douse my increasingly sour mood at the news of Ceelo it got even worse quickly.
Miranda Lawson happened to walk into the bar. She didn't seem to notice me but I noticed her and I sure as shit noticed who she sat next to. It was one of the four people that Tali had given us info on for being a traitor. My blood roared in my head and demanded that I just off both of them but it wasn't an option, Miranda was needed. The other one wasn't though and I sent a message to Shepard saying that they just met with a Cerberus agent.
His reply was immediate and he asked how I knew they were a Cerberus agent he was meeting with. I simply answered that it was the same one that approached me. Again an immediate reply saying that he acknowledged me and would have the sailor put into the brig as soon as he got back to his station on the Normandy. That was good enough for me but I requested to be the one to take him into custody. He gave me the okay.
Keeping a low profile as the two talked I tried not to let the anger take over me but it was rather hard. Still, I managed to keep it in check as they talked. It got real bad when I saw the man send a data package to Miranda. I had Sam enhance the eyes on my to see what was on it and it made my bloor roar in rage even louder. From the brief few sections I saw that Miranda quickly looked at it was detailing everything about our mission and the status of it. Not only that it had dossiers on all of the ground team, nothing I could see but all our names were there. Thankfully for the man he left quickly after their exchange. Unfortunately for Miranda she stayed. Thank god Chora's Den was an Underground haven.
"Hey barkeep," I gave a quick look to the bartender in charge and he moved quickly. He was a friend of Franks and knew I was in the Mercenary business.
"What can I do for you?"
"See the gorgeous woman over there?" I motioned to Miranda and he gave a quick look and nodded. "She has info I need. And I'm going to get it. Make sure no one interferes," my tone brokered no argument and he simply nodded. Downing the rest of my drink I unholstered my pistol and walked up behind her.
"You move, you die. You activate your biotics, you die. Answer my question honestly and you walk out of here alive."
Monitoring her heartbeat and usual signs of possible lying. Adjusting for implants and elevated heart rate from high stress situation. Came Sam's voice and I smiled an animalistic smile. One I wish she could see.
"Is he the only one inside the Normandy?"
"Yes."
She's telling the truth, Pilot.
"Thanks for telling the truth Miranda. Oh, and I'll be taking that," I said as I reached down and stripped her of her omni-tool. "Tell Timmy the Torchbearer says hi." and then I knocked her out with a blow to the back of the head.
Storming out of Chora's Den my anger wasn't abated at all and was still roaring for retribution. It would get it very soon but not soon enough. Everyone that got in my way gave me a wide berth as I walked through the station to the Normandy. My anger was palpable.
My mood got even more sour as when I arrived there was an admiral there. The one that wanted to inspect the Normandy and was being a bit of an ass about it. He tried to stop me but I was having absolutely none of it. I just brushed past him and told him to blow it out his ass.
Storming into the Normandy, hacking the decontamination center so it wouldn't even do it, I made a beeline for the traitor. Thankfully he was just an assistant in the engineering department and away from everyone. Though he wasn't alone at the time. He was talking animatedly with Adams with Tali off to the side in front of the Eezo core. Knowing he was the only one Cerberus had I didn't bother with the subtle approach and stormed to him.
He didn't notice me until it was too late. Grabbing him by the throat with my left hand I threw him to the wall. Not having superhuman strength he didn't make it but my follow up kick to his chest did send him into the wall. Adams tried to stop me not knowing what was happening but I could hear Tali's shotgun cocking and Adams stopped.
I brutalized the man until he was nothing but a bleeding mess propped up against the wall. Still he was conscious and when I crouched in front of him he looked at me in confusion before I held up Miranda's omni-tool. His eyes went wide with shock and then it turned to resignation. Being as paranoid as I am I gave him a love tap on the nose and then shoved my hand into his mouth searching for a cyanide capsule. Finding two I ripped them out of his mouth and held them in my hand.
"You're not getting out of this so easy," and then I punched him as hard as I could in the nerve cluster between his eyes. He was out like a light.
However, it was at that exact time that the annoying Admiral walked in with Shepard. So this guy got to see a Mercenary crouching in front of an unconscious and bloody Alliance sailor and a Quarian holding the chief engineer at gunpoint. Being one to get the first word in I spoke before anyone else could.
"Just doing some house cleaning Shepard."
"And Adams?"
"He's clean. You can put the gun away Tali," and she did so.
"What the HELL is GOING ON HERE!" the admiral roared and I couldn't help myself.
"Are you deaf mate? I told Shepard and you definitely have ears. It's just some house cleaning."
"Aedon," came the sharp voice of Shepard.
"Yes sir?"
"Get him to the Brig. Good work. Please follow me Admiral. There's nothing to see here."
The admiral wanted to protest and seemed about to but from the combined glares of Tali, myself and Shepard he buckled. Tali had a surprising amount of malice in her stare, I was proud of that. When the man left Tali walked over to me.
"So, this is the Cerberus bosh'tet?"
"Yep."
"Good," and with that I slung the unconscious sailor over my shoulder and left the engineering room.
Everyone that saw me avoided me like I was the plague which wasn't exactly wrong there. The guy was bleeding all over and with how fast sailors gossiped they probably already knew that Shepard had been alright with it. To actively go against Shepard in this situation would be a bad idea. To that no one gave me a problem and the Brig guards even held the door open for me and I dumped the traitor in the cell.
After that was done I went back to the engineering room to look for Tali. She was right where she had been before working at her console, Adams wasn't there anymore. Tapping her on the shoulder she swiveled her head and saw me then fully turned around. Cocking her head to the side in curiosity I handed her Miranda's omni-tool.
"Would you mind hacking that please."
"Any failsafes?"
"No clue but the agent was sloppy. Be careful with it, my paranoia is acting up here. No agent is usually ever that sloppy."
She simply nodded and took it over to her work bench and began to tinker with the thing. Leaving her to do her job I went to the showers and undressed down to my underwear and hung up the blood covered suit in the shower. Turning on said shower let it do it's work on the suit and when it was done got in myself. It was relaxing and washed away the anger, not completely but enough that it wasn't a problem anymore.
Drying myself off afterwards I grabbed my underwear, threw it on and then grabbed my suit and slung it over my shoulder. Walking down to the hold in nothing but my underwear and helmet got a few weird looks and 2 wolf whistles, one from a girl and one from a guy. The guy made me feel a little weird but I just took it as a compliment.
Hanging up the drying suit on the outside of my locker I grabbed my sweats and put them on. It would be at that moment Garrus walked up to me.
"You got the bastard huh."
"Took out some anger on the guy too," was my response.
"I saw… You good?"
"No. No I'm not."
"Wanna talk about it?"
"You got anything to drink?"
"Nothing you could drink," at that I looked around and noticed Ashley wasn't here. Turning back around I hacked her locker and swiped the beer she kept in the shoebox.
"She won't like that." I chuckled in response.
"I'll pay her back. On top of the Mako?" he simply nodded his head in response and I went there while he grabbed his drinks from his locker.
We would sit up there for a while drinking in silence and talking about random shit. He mostly just let me talk and blow off some steam. Brought up Ceelo and the fact that Cerberus more than likely had him. He wasn't the best of people but he was one of my people and a good man at heart. It hurt no matter how one looked at it.
Like an hour or so into our alcohol therapy session Wrex came into the hold and joined us atop the Mako. He was dead silent but drank with us. Another 30 minutes later I was done with my ranting and then Garrus started talking about the ineptitude of C-Sec and Dr. Saleon. He was still a bit peeved at me for having a hand in his escape, even if it was unintentional. Though apparently they had a lead on the guy now, just had to make time to go and get him. Wrex piped up at that and said it was the same with his armor. They just needed to make time.
Both were in the areas we were going to be going with Cerberus so we would be seeing to their needs. Just not right away. Still, they were happy that we would be getting after it soon enough. For now they were happy to drink and wait it out. Speaking of drinking, bottoms up! There goes the final beer to Ashley's sixpack. Jesus, her stuff is strong.
"Is that my beer Wynne?" Oh no. Wrex and Garrus didn't bother looking at me. Thinking fast I responded.
"No hablo ingles."
"Our translators work for different human languages too you dick. I expect my next three will be bought by you now. No negotiation."
"Can I send you the money now?"
"Yes."
"Good, now join us Williams. I know you have liquor in that locker," I said, patting the Mako.
She looked apprehensive but bent and just sighed before grabbing her liquor and joining us. Not gonna lie either, she was fun once she got a bit tipsy. Shared some stories with us as we drank and once she started sharing stories so did everyone else. Garrus had some cool detective ones and Wrex had some reeling merc ones. All crazy or sad and sometimes both. At least Ashley let me have some swigs of her liquor.
We sat atop the Mako for another couple hours all exchanging stories. I shared a couple of my assassination ones from my past life and a couple of the smaller ones from my time as Torchbearer but nothing super incriminating. Still wanted Ashley to figure it out on her own. Hell, we were on there so long Shepard eventually joined us. Now, that man had stories for days. He had to be vague cause most were technically classified but it is what it is. They were still good stories.
Didn't even notice that by the time I passed out we had already hit the first Relay and were on our way to the Sparta cluster to intercept the people who were after us. Plus, visit the distress beacon afterwards.
*Torchbearer*
We arrived in the Sparta System not two days later with a small Turian vessel off our bow, port side. It was apparently a Blackwatch (Turian version of N7) vessel that excelled in cutting off and detaining pilots through the use of EMPs. They were perfect for this and just a couple hours of tense waiting the same god damn shuttle that had been following us everywhere popped in.
They never even got the opportunity to register what was going on before the Turian vessel sent off their EMP. With their job the Turians bugged out and left us to deal with the traitors. Their vessel was just big enough for us to use the docking port but it was still extremely small. At max it would just have a big cargo hold and cockpit and that's it.
As we set up to board them Shepard grouped us up and talked.
"I want this to be as quick and clean as possible. If they surrender and try and talk themselves out of this lets hear what they have to say. Hopefully, they won't put up a fight and will just give up everything and we won't have to do anything. They are still N7s as far as we know and they are connected. It won't do to just kill them," we all acknowledged it but I didn't like it. Still he was in charge and I was going to be ready.
Walking over to Tali and Wrex I tapped them both on the shoulder. "Stay behind me and if you see me scratch my side be ready to open fire. Shepard may want to save lives but he doesn't know Cerberus as much as I do; they will try to kill us when the opportunity arises, better to be ready," they both nodded in agreement.
As soon as the doors opened we walked in ready to fire but didn't get the opportunity to. The soldiers had their arms pointed at the ground and not at us. Lo and behold too it was the same god damn N7 team from before. All four of them, the exact same.
"What can I do for you Commander?" asked the leader in a placating tone.
Shepard got to talking then but I had my weapon trained on the woman. I didn't trust her and right now she seemed to be protecting a little desk in front of her. Well, not protecting it but more of looking at it.
My paranoia flared up at seeing that and I beeped my mic 5 times quick signalling Shepard to switch to my target. He quickly got the message and started talking to the woman and called her over to him. She seemed reluctant to leave but did so after her boss asked her to come and talk to Shepard. Slinking forward to the desk I made a quick hack on the locked drawer and looked inside. I saw red, only one of these fuckers would leave here alive and then they would be mine to play with.
Scratching my side I got 2 separate clicks from Tali and Wrex. The rest looked confused but saw those two readying and me looking at the drawer and discreetly got ready. My blood was singing to kill.
Snapping my pistol off my hip I hefted it at one of the soldiers near me. Quicker than a blink of an eye it was inside his shield radius aimed at his head and I pulled the trigger. His head exploded in a shower of blood and gore. Tali and Wrex were the only ones not surprised by this and both hit the one on the far side from me with dual Carnage rounds. He too exploded in a shower of gore.
Shepard reacted the fastest of those that hadn't been ready and pulled his pistol and blew the face off the leader of the N7s and dived back. The woman made a move to raise her gun but was hit by a push from Liara shooting her into the wall a few meters away. I charged the woman as she tried to recover and sent a flying knee at her but she dodged it at the last moment and pushed me away before trying to raise her gun. She was just out of my reach to kick it away but before she could fire the gun was shot out of her hand.
Wrex as standing there with a smoking pistol and nodded at me. I nodded back and then stared down the woman.
"She's mine. Everyone else back off."
"You want a rematch kid."
"Not a kid and it's personal now."
I didn't bother waiting for her response and moved forward shooting my left hand forward in a risky move. It was a shot to her jaw and the plan was to actually be a little off balance so she would try and spin me around. A move Frank himself had taught me and she fell right into it.
When she deflected the hand and spun me around I took the moment she gave me and built on in pirouetting on the balls of my feet and delivered a devastating elbow strike to her jaw. Recovering with the strength only a spec ops soldier could she took the hit and took advantage of my off-balance state and smoked my kidney with a solid hit.
Knowing this could be coming I trapped her arm and headbutted her. Again she just shrugged it off and tripped up my leg using her all her weight to slam me down on the ground. Getting a full mount of me she started to wail on me but I was able to block them all except for a few.
Knowing I couldn't keep this up from this positing I let her hit me one more time and trapped the arm before using my free hand to hit her free shoulder joint twice and then trapped that arm. Using my legs I sprung and spun us around so I was on top but I wasn't going to stop there. Getting my feet up I lifted her up off the ground standing while doing so and tucked my head to my chest getting it under her chin.
Then I ran at the wall and slammed into it. She definitely wasn't expecting that and her fight started to sway. Pulling back from the wall and doing it again I heard an audible crack, from either her back armor or mine, I couldn't tell. it didn't matter though, she was too dazed to do anything and her grip went slack.
Dropping her to the ground at the base of the wall she tried to raise her hands to protect herself but I was having none of it. I grabbed her arm, put a foot on her hit and pulled the damn thing out of its socket. She gasped in pain and then I finished the fight. Taking a step back I delivered a roundhouse kick right to her jaw and she crumpled unconscious.
"What was that Wynne?!" Shepard shouted. I didn't answer and walked back to the drawer and grabbed the omni-tool that was sitting in there. Specifically, it was Ceelo's. I knew because his was heavily modified and always had his calling card on ones he owned. His name was burned into the side of it bye his own hand.
Lifting it and showing it to Shepard. "Remember Ceelo?"
"Yes."
"He was taken by Cerberus after he helped us. My contacts confirmed it when we were last on the Citadel. This is his. They took my friend and a good man."
"And that warranted this," he asked, gesturing to all the blood.
"Yes." he just sighed. "At least we have a prisoner. Tear it all down, everything you can."
I knew he was disappointed in how I acted and I'm not gonna lie it hurt me a little to see that but it didn't matter to me. I was going to do what was needed to be done. It would've hurt a bit more if when we tore down and looked through everything I hadn't been right in doing it.
There were reports from an unknown source, we all knew it was Timmy, detailing their assignments and how to effectively screw with us. To take samples from the Thorian after their agent had failed to acquire the data. That in and of itself was damning. Not to mention that it said to report that data to one of the facilities we knew about. These guys might be N7s but they were Cerberus and that made them traitors.
Not only all that but there were details on certain politicians, human politicians, they could strongarm to get them compliant. Nothing on the current ones but details on them all. That being said I should mention that we found most of this after the EMP past and the systems rebooted. The EMP had stopped them from getting rid of the data because it was all on secured servers within the ship and only accessible when the systems were online. One hell of a lucky break if you ask me. My anger was finally satisfied… for now.
"Get her to the interrogation room," Shepard ordered and Wrex did so by slinging the woman over her shoulder and we all exited. He stopped me when we were the last two in the vessel.
"You're effective Wynne but you're getting out of hand."
"Are you benching me sir?" I kind of saw it coming if he was, I needed to cool down.
"No. Not yet. You continue like this and you will be though. I need cooperation from everyone and I know Ceelo was your friend but you need to reign it in. Be aggressive but not recklessly so. We got really lucky with this, you realize that? These guys are N7s. They aren't pushovers and frankly the only reason we got unscathed was because no one besides Wrex and Tali were expecting anything."
"I understand sir."
"Do you really?" Well, there it is. Finally the sass of a rogue Shep.
"I do sir. I was out of line and it could have cost us."
"Good. I trust you in the field and off of it. Don't take advantage of that." I saluted and began to walk off but he stopped me again. "As soon as she wakes you'll get the first crack at her."
Turning back around to look at him I simply nodded and then left.
She was up quickly. Not even an hour later and she was up, chained down in the interrogation room. Knowing the others would be in there I decided it was time to end the charade of Wynne and bring out Torchbearer. The ground team had my Trust and if Shepard trusted me then he should see my true face and so should the rest of them.
Walking into the in adjacent room the others were all there already and no one else. Shepard nodded to me and gave me the go ahead. I didn't leave though and cleared my throat getting the attention of everyone.
"I trust all of you," was all I said and it got a few confused looks but one of realization from Tali. Then I took off my helmet. "This is my true face. Not only that but for those of you who haven't figured it out. I am Torchbearer."
I left after that and went into the interrogation room. The woman stared daggers at me but I was unfazed. She made a wrong move and she would die. This time I didn't even bother talking to her first and found the implant and shocked her. A quick small one but it got the message. She looked stunned and for a moment there was legitimate fear in her eyes.
"So, they let you off the leash Torchy?"
"Torchy, really? I expected a better insult from an N7."
"I'm not at my best," she shrugged.
"You never were. Cerberus dogs are always bitches in the end. Weak and easily manipulated," that got a snarl from her.
"You wouldn't understand?"
"Let me guess. Batarians?"
"And they used all the other races too. Fucking pigs would rape and pillage at their hearts content unless we stop them."
"Ah, so it's the righteous route. Not that I don't disagree, if there was ever a race that deserved to be wiped off the face of the galaxy it would be the Batarians, slavers deserve no mercy and only death. However, one alien race does not determine them all. Let's also not forget here that humans are just as bad as every other race, you impudent child. No one race is clean in this galaxy."
"Fuck you. Cerberus is shit but at least they get it?"
"Get what?" my voice became cold, calculated and venemous. "That absolute power rules absolutely? Even if that was the case absolute power corrupts absolutely. No one is exempt from that; not me, not you, not Shepard, no one is exempt. Not even the council, inept as they are. You cannot rule through power alone. No one can.
Even if you truly believe that it doesn't mean that it gives you the right to do what you want. To kill indiscriminately, to experiment indiscriminately. To experiment on children, drop Eezo bombs to create biotics, or take over entire colonies just for the purpose of seeing if you could. An ideology gives you no right to do what you want and that is where Cerberus fails. They believe that just because their ideology is better that they get the right to do what they want but I will tell you right now that is not the case," the coldness of my voice became harder and more venomous but maintained its cool composure and never elevated in its volume even though I wanted it too.
"You don-"
"Don't know what girl? The injustice of the galaxy? The depravity that we live in? I'll tell you right now I know it all too well. I have been a terrible human being and so angry in my life that I've made terrible mistakes. Mistakes that will send me to Hell when I meet God. Mistakes that have taken the lives of innocent people who did not deserve to die. Choices in my life that have cost more than enough lives and will cost me.
But I have gotten help, help from a mentor. A man who saw in me the ability to right my wrongs, to set straight the dye I had already cast. He helped build me back up with the help of a Turian, Asari, and Quarian. Taught me to love and forgive and made me into someone who wasn't a killer but a protector and a beacon of hope. That is something I will forever be eternally grateful for; they saved me. And you took one of them," the last words seethed out of my mouth with so much spite that I felt the world get cold around us. Now, the woman seemed truly frightened.
That being said, it was all true. Not in this galaxy but in my past life, it was true. I ruined lives for money and for my rage. I wasn't ever a good person, even if I did take jobs that really did help people.
"Now, here is how it is going to go. I am going to leave and come back with a pen and paper and you will write everything you know about Cerberus and everyone you know to be affiliated with them. If you refuse then well, we are in space. No one can hear you scream out here. "
I left the room and went to the adjacent room. The others were staring at me in horror and sadness but I didn't look at any of them and looked around for some paper and pen. Tali, being Tali, had both and she handed them to me before pulling me into a fierce hug. It was nice; nothing special but just nice.
"You good kid?" came Wrex's voice. Slowly peeling myself away from Tali I looked to him with Shepard next to burly Krogan. I saw true concern in both their eyes and scanned the others seeing it in theirs as well. It was nice to have.
"Not particularly. But I'll manage," and with that I left the room.
Walking into the interrogation room I put the pen and paper in front of her.
"Start writing." she did.
Seriously let me know about it and everything you think for this. I want to know how I did so I can make adjustments.
Thanks y'all. Have a great day and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Sorry, I uploaded it then took it off. I just forgot to put something in here and had to.