Here we go boys, early update since I'm waking up early tomorrow so I won't have time to update until late in the afternoon.
*POV: AeTorchbearer
"Get up kid," I awoke to Tela violently shaking me on her couch.
Pushing myself up from the couch I grabbed my helmet and shoved it on before I grabbed my guns and put them in their respective spots. As I did so Tela went over to her kitchen and grabbed me a bottle of water. She tossed it to me as she walked back over and jerked her towards the door. I followed her without a word and as soon as we were out of the apartment she started running.
I was hot on her heels as we went down the stairs and into what counted as a garage. She stopped in front of a sleek black car with white highlights and jumped in. Following suite as soon as I was in the car she took off before my door was even closed. As we shot through the still opening garage door I looked over at her.
"They here already?"
"Yep. The ex-Blackwatch guys and Quarian team got in an hour ago so the plan is still good," well that's a nice silver lining.
"What's our plan? Didn't really go over it last night," as I asked that question she proceeded to cut off four cars and join the incredibly hectic highway. She then proceeded to drive like a madman and I thanked god there was an 'oh shit' handle for me to hold onto.
"The Council has an extraction zone. We need to get to them and then to the extraction zone as fast as possible. They at least had the foresight to bunk together last night so they're all in one place so we'll be able to get them in one go."
"Where's the 'but'?" shit never worked out that well without something trying to fuck it up. That's the law of the universe.
"The geth that got past the blockade are headed there so we're heading into a fight."
"It just us or -"
"No, we got a couple Spectre's closing in already. We'll be first though and just so you know the challenge is Akira and the response is Kaori."
"Seriously?" I couldn't help it. Those names came from one of the best anime movies of all time; Akira.
"Bau loves the movie. Most Salarians like anime," guess you learn something new everyday.
That was all the talking we did as we moved with insane speed to one of the hotels near the Presidium. Along the way I checked over my weapons and Tela gave me hers as she drove to check over them as well. Finding no problems with them I handed them back and then got ready. It was only then, going into the fight, that I realized I didn't have a bandolier and thus no grenades.
It was not good but I would have to make due. It was what people in my position had to do. Not to mention I was still injured to hell and back and not even remotely completely healed. Hell, I could feel the strain on a few of the wounds as Tela drove so fighting wasn't going to be fun. Those emergency stims were going to be used for sure.
A couple more minutes of hectic driving and a silent prayer later we screamed to a halt on top of the hotel the councillors were staying at. As we pulled up we saw that a few geth were landing as well. Before she even landed I had opened up my door and was pouring fire into one of the geth. 7 shots straight to the dome and it was done.
At that the other geth opened fire on the car and I was forced to jump out or be shredded. Landing in a roll I got behind one of the pillars holding up the landing pad and used it for cover. There were 4 other geth up dop and that number immediately went down as Tela landed her car on one of them.
Getting out of cover I shot an Overload at the closest geth to her taking out its shields and she eviscerated it with a single close range shotgun shell. The final two were able to get a couple of shots on her but they barely even scratched her barrier. I was able to take out one as it shot at me but my shields soaked up all the damage. Tela simply sent a Push at the other one and flew it off the building.
With the area clear she nodded to me and I went to the door leading to the stairs. Stacking up on either side she nodded to me and I reached over and opened the door as she poked her gun through. She didn't immediately fire and instead went inside. Taking it that no one was in the immediate area I followed her in with my gun up and at the ready.
From there we went down the stairs at a quick but controlled pace. We didn't see anymore geth on the stairs but once we reached the level with the councillors, I assumed as we left the stairs, there were 7 of them getting ready to breach a door. Thinking fast Tela sent a singularity into the middle of them and was able to catch 3 of them.
I immediately hit the singularity with an Overload. The singularity exploded outwards knocking all but 2 of the geth down to the ground and ripping apart 2 of the 3 in the singularity. While the geth were on the ground we both pushed forward and unloaded on the geth. I targeted the two still standing and took one of them down before the other one hit my gun with a sabotage overheating it.
Taking out my knife I prepared to charge him but Tela got their first with a Biotic Charge that sent the geth cascading down the hallway. Instead I charged at the closest geth as it got up to one knee. Tackling it back to the ground I wasted no time and plunged my knife through its neck severing the cord on its neck.
Sitting up on the downed geth I pulled back out my rifle and fired at the next closest one. All my shots went true and it was dead in a second and when I went to look for another target there was none, Tela had taken care of the rest.
Getting up from the downed geth I made to go to the door where Tela was now standing. As she set about putting in the code I watched the way we had come in case anymore geth came down. Just as Tela got the door open I saw movement and decided to suppress them and fired at the doorway.
"Akira!" shouted a voice from the doorway. Too quick on the trigger I guess.
"Kaori!" I responded and lowered my weapon. With that hashed out a Turian came through the doorway and he looked familiar but I couldn't place it.
"Avitus Rix. Guess you're Torchbearer," he said as he walked up to us. Now, I knew where I had seen him before. He was the Turian Pathfinder from Andromeda. Small galaxy I guess.
"The one and the same," he just nodded at that.
"C'mon, let's go," Tela said from behind me as she opened the door.
Stepping through the door as the last one in, we were greeted with the sight of the Council patiently waiting in the main room for us. Sparatus had a gun in hand and looked ready for a fight. Both Tevos and Valern were just sitting down on their respective seats. All three looked at us when we entered and their eyes lingered on me for a bit longer than the other two.
I immediately noticed a glaring problem with where we were as there were windows all around. Getting the councillors up off their seats both Tela and Rix were of the same mind once they entered the room. We got them to another part of the apartment, one not surrounded by windows.
Once that was done Tela gestured with her head to the door, politely asking me to go away as she and Rix talked to the Council. Getting out of the room they were in I started going around the place making sure there weren't any surprises for us. There were none, of course, but it didn't hurt to make sure.
With that out of the way I got into the best cover available to me, the island in the kitchen and got a small angle on the door. Waiting there for a few minutes I started to wonder what exactly we were waiting on. The only thing that made sense was that we were waiting for the next Spectre to arrive.
Turned out I was right on that front as I heard someone keying themselves into the door. Getting out of cover I moved towards the door and got into a blindspot next to it and waited for the door to open. As it did I put my gun up and got ready.
A Salarian head popped through and got my guns barrel next to it. Whoever they were though they were good in that moment they had their pistol pointing at my stomach. Not wanting to get shot if it was avoidable I gave them the challenge. They responded instantly with the response and we both lowered our weapons.
"Torchbearer. Vasir said you'd be with her. Where are the others," rapid fire talk from the Salarian as usual. Guy had a rather massive backpack on too, I don't know why.
"Second door on your right, Rix is here too."
"Ah, lasst to arrive. Not good, late not good," and with that he walked off. Didn't even get his name.
A minute or so later the Council and the Spectres came out of the room with Tela in the lead. As she approached she got her gun off her back and nodded to the door. Nodding back to her I opened the door and took point. As we left the apartment she spoke to me so I would have at least an idea of what the plan was.
"Back up top," not acknowledging her, I lead the way.
We made our way back up the stairs and to the landing pad where all the cars were presumably. We didn't encounter any resistance as we made our way up but got a nasty surprise when we got there. Opening the door to the landing pad and roof we started to move towards the biggest car only for when we got halfway there a Geth ship shot over us from behind and did a strafing run on the roof.
Reacting instantly the spectres all dove onto their respective races Councillors to cover them. I wasn't so lucky and dove to the ground to try and get some cover. If they didn't see us because we had just come out of the doorway or not they hadn't been shooting at us. Instead they took out all the cars on the roof.
"Plan B, elevators," Tela barked out and we went back to the stairs.
Making my way to the elevator didn't take long but once we got back to the hallway we had to take a couple turns to get to the elevators. Nothing happened there though and we made our way to the elevators with no problems. Once we were there we called the elevator only for the lights to go out for a second and then the emergency lights went on. Guess the power is out.
"Plan C. Stairs to the garage," as Tela said that I took a look at the floor we were on and silently groaned. We were on floor 74… At least we were going down the stairs instead of up.
Making it to the stairs I made to start to lead the way down them but Tela grabbed onto my shoulder and held it. Looking back at her the Salarian Spectre had taken his big backpack off and instead of their being a weapon in there it was rope. He then set it up on the guardrail and once it was all said and done handed me the rope and two clips.
"You know how to rappel?" Hadn't done it in years but I did in fact know how to do it.
"Yeah."
I grabbed the clips and set them up around the waist of my armor and then came the rope. Around my waist it went and being honest I forgot how to do it, none of the Spectres said anything so I assumed it was right. Going over the railing and turning to face the others I gave them a nod and then jumped down.
It was fun all things considered as it had been years since my last time rappelling but it really wasn't the time to enjoy it. Now, it was the time to get going down and I did just that. Plus, seeing Tela go over the railing a few seconds after me put my into gear. About a minute later I had reached the end of the rope.
Pushing off the guardrail nearest me I swung back and then forward hopping onto the stairs. Undoing the clips I grabbed the rope and gave it two small tugs. With that done my gun was back out and I was checking the area for anything coming at us. There was nothing in the immediate vicinity and wouldn't be as everyone else came down the rope. Tela, Tevos, Rix, Sparatus, Valern and then the Salarian Spectre all came down after me in that order.
The rope took us about 50 levels down, 500 feet, and with that my body and wounds thanked the Salarian with all their gusto. Still weren't done and once everyone was ready we were on the way down the stairs. Since we were going down we went at a lot faster pace than we would if we were going up. It helped too that we weren't trying to hide anything about what we were doing and making all the noise in the world.
10 levels down and the councillors were starting to look a lot worse for wear. Especially Valern, he did not look to be in good shape. When it became obvious to everyone I spared a quick glance to Tela silently asking if the pace should be slowed. She shook her head and we kept up the same pace. Valern would just have to deal with it.
Keeping up the pace all the way down to the basement where the garage was by the time we got there Valern and Tevos looked about ready to collapse. Sparatus was just a bit out of breath. The Spectres and I were fine but my wounds were aching, nothing big so it wasn't a problem.
Getting into the garage we scanned the area before Tela pointed out a bigger than usual car and we made our way to it. When we were maybe only 100 feet from it Geth started pouring in from a couple of the entrances. We immediately got the councillors into cover and the Spectres went to work while I supervised the councillors.
While the Spectres pushed and started eliminating the Geth I provided covering fire and a few overloads and sabotages. You know watching them as they worked they weren't as impressive as all the propaganda made them seem to be. With the exception of Tela I'm 100% sure I could take them both out, if I was healed. They were very efficient though so I'll give them that; being honest everyone from the Ground team with the exception of Kaiden could beat them.
It was there that my little plan that formed the night before started to have some merit to it. Not to mention the groundwork for an actual plan, especially as I looked at the councillors. Sparatus looked reasonably calm, just annoyed. Tevos had biotics dancing in her eyes being ready and Valern was still recovering from the 24 flights of stairs we went down.
Getting myself out of that thought process I continued to help cover the Spectre's as they fucked up the Geth. There seemed to be no end to them and sensing this I made an executive decision. Maybe not my best but the Spectre's had the geth occupied for now.
"Get up. We're going for the car," Valern and Tevos opened their mouths to say something but their mouths closed when I turned my helmets cold dead eyes to them. Sparatus nodded and muttered something that sounded like 'about time'.
Getting them all up and ready behind me Sparatus tapped my shoulder and we all took off. The quick sprint caused the geth to turn to look at us but the Spectre's kept them distracted just long enough for me to slid into the gap between the car we wanted and the one next to it.
Slamming my elbow into the window I broke it open. Hitting the unlock button, thank god that's never changed, and opening the passenger doors I grabbed the councillors and shoved them inside. Valern yelped in indignation and Tevos definitely didn't appreciate it but Spartus didn't say anything and just got in. It was obvious he was rather pissed about the whole thing though.
Once they were all in I hopped in the front and hacked it to start, all electronic. When the engine purred to life the Spectre's took notice and made a fighting retreat to the car. Once they were out of the way of the cars I peeled out and got in front of them. Sparatus in the back flung open the door and they all jumped in. Not bothering to wait until the door was back closed I peeled out of the garage and barrelled right though the garage door.
The car didn't handle it as well as I had hoped that it would but it made it through. Screeching and screaming in protest as the door ripped into the car but it made it through and we were off and out of the building. As we peeled out I couldn't see any geth ships following us but I wasn't about to risk it.
My erratic driving would've made Shepard proud with me swerving around traffic like a mad man. Up, down, around and shooting the gap on every occasion made the already hectic traffic worse to the point no one could have followed us. At this point it was less of actual traffic and just people trying to get to safety while avoiding the geth in the air. Then finally, after about 10 minutes of this I screeched to a halt in an alleyway in the poorer district. Looking into the back it was hard to resist a smile.
Tela was visibly paler and looked to be on the edge of spewing her breakfast. Tevos, Valern and the Salarian Spectre did puke while Rix and Sparatus took deep breaths. Everyone was staring daggers at me as I looked back at them from the front. Everyone was alive though and that was a miracle in and of itself as that was the first time I had actually driven an air car.
"Where's the extraction point?" I pointedly asked looking at Tela. She touched her omni-tool a couple times and sent me the coordinates. Dock 56A.
"Buckle up everyone. Miss Vasir, I'll need you up front with me," I spoke and everyone acted. Rix and Sparatus helped Valern and the Salarian Spectre into their seats. Tela helped Tevos before jumping into the passenger's seat. Once she was in we took off again.
"Contact Frank, get a sitrep for me please," I asked her as we took off.
She stared at me for a second and looked like she wanted to say something but held her tongue. Calling Frank she talked to him for a few minutes as we made our way to the dock. Each time I looked at her she looked a bit more pale but that was probably from the driving. We were upside down at one point so we could make a downward U-turn.
When we were within a couple minutes of reaching the dock she hung up from Frank.
"What's the news?" I asked, making another sharp turn and barrelling through traffic.
"C-Sec got smoked, otherwise everything is going well for us. Everyone's holding on and there's no complications for now."
"What happened to C-Sec?"
"Their HQ got hit. Place is mostly intact and is acting as a shelter for civillia- CAR!" I saw it and easily swerved. "You are never driving again," she spat at me, I paid her no mind. "Anyway, the whole of their top brass that was there is dead and the ones who weren't aren't responding."
"So C-Sec isn't doing much right now?"
"The officers in the field are being patched through to Frank via Ceelo for orders but he has to do it individually. The Commando's are too busy with the Geth to head to the HQ and get Ceelo patched into their mainframe."
"And why can't Ceelo go himself?"
"He has to stay near Frank to patch the officers through, he leaves then they'll have nothing for however long it takes him to get to the HQ, if he gets there at all."
"Looks like that'll be my first stop after I drop y'all off then."
"That's the order."
Not responding to her statement I continued to drive the councillors and Spectre's to their extraction point. Another couple minutes of hectic driving and some rather insane turns we arrived at dock 56A. Skidding to a halt on the actual dock we screeched to a half parallel to their extraction vehicle. Taking a quick look around at everyone gathered I made a mental note to make sure Sam saved this recording, their faces were too good.
"Thank you for flying Air Torch. You will receive your trips invoice within the coming weeks. Please exit the vehicle safely and have a nice day," I spoke in that fake hospitality voice you hear service workers use.
Once I was done talking I hopped out of the car and threw open the side doors. The councillors and two Spectres in back stumbled out before a squad of soldiers came from their transport and helped them to the car. None of them said anything to me besides, the leader I assumed, giving me a singular nod of thanks. Tela slapped my shoulder as she walked by me and to the transport, never looking back.
I waited until they had taken off and were out of sight before moving. Jumping into the elevator leaving the thoroughly punished car behind I hit the button and it took me down near the C-Sec HQ. Not close but near enough where it shouldn't be a problem to get there. That being said as soon as the doors to the elevator opened a Geth was thrown through the door.
Not bothering to question it, I got into cover at the side of the door and took my AR off my back before putting two bullets into the geth's head. Peaking around the corner it seemed that there was a group of geth right in front of me and the commando's were on the other side of them.
Connecting to their comms and sending two clicks through I got two clicks back and smiled. Waiting a second before going out of cover my omni-tool was already up and firing an overload into three geth that were just a bit too close together. The one in the middle took the brunt of the attack and froze up for a second getting his head blown off by one of the commando's. The one on the right suffered the least but died next from a full auto burst from me straight to its chest. The one on the left got hit with a lift and got collectively fired upon by everyone before it was torn apart by the bullets.
With our brief fight over the commando's got out of cover and walked over to me. All in their form fitting gear and I'd be remiss if they didn't all nail the look. As they walked up they too seemed to be giving me appraising looks but it stopped rather quickly their commander saddled up to me seriously.
"You going to C-Sec HQ?"
"Yes Ma'am."
"You know where to go?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Good, I'm sending one of my girls with you though. The path should be clear but I'd rather you not be alone."
I nodded at her and she looked back at her group and pointed at the smallest one. She may have been the smallest but I could instantly tell that of everyone here she had the most experience. You could tell in her eyes and her body language, she had probably been a commando for 2 or 3 centuries before retiring.
Walking up to me she gave me a curt nod, one which I returned, and we were off. She took point as we made our way to the HQ. The whole time she led and I followed her lead and steps as best as possible. Never knew what could be waiting for you in an active warzone so it was best to follow in the exact tracks of the pointman. That being said, it definitely helped when we stumbled upon a squad of geth coming our way.
The Asari barely even slowed down as she took a grenade from her belt and tossed it at the geth. As soon as she threw it she spun around, grabbed me and took me to the ground with her. The grenade went off as soon as we hit the ground and shredded the two closest to it in the middle. We each got up and opened fire on a geth ripping them apart before they could even put a dent in our shields.
With that done she got up and we went on our way again. It would only take a few more minutes until we got to the HQ. Didn't even run into any more geth, this may be easier than I thought. Doubted it because this was really only the first wave, this was going to get a lot harder. Either way once we got the entrance of the HQ the Asari didn't enter with me and gave me a polite wave before taking back off.
Entering the HQ there were officers im there running around trying to get communications up but they couldn't break through to anyone. It was general chaos in there as I entered but as they saw me each and every single one of them stopped and stared. I could see them protecting the civilians in the back so there was that too. Guess it's time to take charge.
"Get me to the communications room NOW," my voice wasn't necessarily loud but it was powerful and they all listened to every word I said. A young looking Turian ran up to me and motioned for me to follow.
"I want a sitrep on all available personnel and equipment we can offer when I get back. Start getting organized and acting like C-Sec!" I barked and then followed the Turian officer. As we walked out I heard the mass running of feet and some shouting.
"Where's the brass, officer?" I asked him as we started to double time it.
"The brass that was here when it was hit are dead. Geth apparently came in hard and fast and killed them before we were able to do anything. Thankfully some commando's were around and they took care of the geth."
"And the rest?"
"No idea sir. I just got here 10 minutes ago, I was supposed to have off today."
"Fantastic… you guys know why your comms are down?"
"Geth uploaded a virus to our communications hub before they were taken out. Anyone with a police radio, omni-tool or even an old phone is blocked."
As he finished talking we arrived at the communications center and he opened the door for me. In there was an Asari and Quarian furiously working on trying to purge the virus the geth had uploaded. They each in turn gave me sparing glances before returning to their work. I was good at hacking but just from looking at the data on the screen this was out of my range. Instead, I called Ceelo.
"Ceelo, I'm in the C-Sec communications hub. What do I need to do?" it was a video call via omni-tools so he'd be able to give me more information.
"One sec," there was the distinct boom of a grenade and then he returned. "Okay, show me the hub." doing so he hummed for a few seconds before nodding his head as if he understood the whole thing. Which he probably did.
"Okay kid, this is what you need to d-"
"We can't purge this thing, what makes you th…" The Quarian had stood up from his desk and stalked over to me getting angry which was understandable. The guy had probably been at this for at least an hour with no progress. Either way, once he saw Ceelo's face he shut up and changed his tune immediately.
"What do you need us to do?" he asked Ceelo in a respectful manner.
"Don't bother purging the virus, it'll take too long. Create a subroutine within the virus for comms. It won't purge it and comms will be spotty but you'll have the network back up so you'll be able to talk to everyone," the Quarian nodded and wasted no time getting to work.
"What should I do? There's no brass her at all," I asked looking at Ceelo.
"Take command as best you can kid. Frank's coordinating the force we got, you'll have to take care of C-Sec until someone comes to relieve you."
"Got it."
The quarian told me it would take him a few minutes to do everything that needed to be done so I went back to the main area and had the Turian officer follow me. Once I got back to the main area I thundered out my voice to everyone. They all collectively stopped and looked at me in silence. Looking around there were a lot of desk jockeys in the room sporting wounds and some on cots being taken care of by medics.
The SWAT team was off to the side fully geared up and kitted along with what looked to be at least 50 regular officers ready and waiting. Seeing this made me momentarily pause, I did not think I had this type of influence. Right now wasn't the time to think about that though.
"SWAT, get to the presidium. Get all the representatives you can out of there and back here or someplace safe. Do not get bogged down in a fight. We'll comm you with further orders if need be. Go!" and they moved without a word. "The rest of you haul ass and do hit and run tactics where you can. If you see civilians get them out of there. We'll have comms back up soon and if you get hit either get back here, to one of the choke points the gangs have set up near the power stations and Lower Ward or get to the industrial district. There's a warehouse that's been turned into a makeshift med station.
You are C-Sec. This is your station to protect. Show the people they can trust in you. Now move!" They didn't need to be told twice and the rest of the officers stood and sat around while they looked at me.
"The rest of you get on comms when they come up and help the officers and SWAT in the field. If you aren't doing that then I expect you to be answering calls with civilians and directing them to the previously mentioned locations. Do I make myself clear!"
"Yes Sir!" they all shouted back to me and immediately got to work. Apparently as I finished talking to them the comms had come back online. Seeing that I grabbed the Turian officer who had shown me the communications hub and pulled him to the side.
"Why the fuck are you guys so unprepared for this?" I practically growled. The officer went ramrod straight at my voice and addressed me as if I was his superior, which I was for now.
"No one's ever attacked the Citadel sir. Most officers here come here for the twilight stages of their career since it's generally safer." fuck me.
"And with no one to kick their asses into gear they reverted back to rookies," the officer didn't respond but that's all the response I needed. "Get me in contact with Spectre HQ, they should be able to lend assistance."
"There's no one there sir. We sent a runner when the brass were killed, no Spectres are on station."
"Anymore I guess," he gave me a curious look. "I helped three of them get their respective race's councillor extracted before coming here."
"Thank you sir."
"The councillors are just politicians. They can be replaced and after allowing this cluster fuck they should be," I bit out angrily before taking a deep breath. "Doesn't matter now. Let's just unfuck this mess."
Getting the comms back up was just the start but it was a damn good one. At least until the second, third and maybe even fourth wave comes in. Then we'll see what we're truly made of.
Getting closer. There's a part of the next chapter I have waited literal months to write and I can't fucking wait.