I Do Not Own Mass Effect or any of its Characters.
Chapter Twenty: Fire Storm
It took several tries before Garrus got a hold of someone within C-Sec. As he made his way through the crowd of panicked civilians he was given a full breakdown of what was happening. A bomb had been detonated in one of the shopping arcades, followed by several more centered around the Presidium Commons…and the C-Sec building itself. The number of civilian casualties alone was sickening. C-Sec officers were spread thin over the Citadel while trying to reestablish order. After getting all he could get from the rookie officer Garrus cut off the call and growled to his throat mic.
"Get all that, L?"
"By the Goddess this is horrible." Liara stammered. Garrus silently agreed as he reached the outskirts of Huerta Memorial. For now C-Sec was using the building as an outpost to regroup and ensure civilian safety. Huerta was teaming with civilians with a good number of them injured and on stretchers. Then near the center of the crowd Garrus saw it. There was a young girl holding a teddy bear with bandages covering the majority of her face. She was calling out for her mother who was being carried away on a stretcher. Garrus felt his tooth gnawing on his lower lip, only a true monster was capable of this sort of act. Garrus didn't even feel himself march toward Huerta or hear himself speak to one of the C-Sec officers. He just felt numb. Garrus wasn't left this way, in the distance there was a familiar voice, Mordin's.
"Quickly, we have to get her to the facility! Apply more medi gel and call into Hureta. Have them prepare operation room…time limited." The salarian breezed past Garrus with a group of medics guiding the mother's stretcher back to the hospital. Garrus quickly called out to the doctor and joined up with him.
"Mordin, what's the situation here?" Garrus asked as they rushed into Huerta. Mordin had his eyes narrowed as he looked over the woman. He cursed silently in salarian before replying.
"Melisa Renner age thirty one….Punctured lungs, advanced internal bleeding…survivability not probable. Regardless we will not give up." Garrus looked back to her daughter. She was being comforted by Dr. Chakwas.
"Her daughter Kennedy, age six…sustained minimal injuries...Melisa shielded her from blast." Mordin murmured. A knot started forming in the pit of Garrus' stomach. His eyes fluttered open and closed until they reached the operation room. From there Garrus was barred as Mordin prepared for surgery with Huerta's medical staff. Heading back toward the entrance Garrus located Dr. Chakwas and offered to help her any way he could. Dr. Chakwas cradled the young girl Kennedy close to her as she cried into her lab coat. She whispered soothing words and gave the young girl the lightest of hugs.
"Could you fetch me some pillows or at least a blanket for her?" Karin breathed. Without another word Garrus was off to fetch what Karin requested. On his way to ask one of the on staff medics about blankets Garrus' throat mic clicked on.
"Got something for you." 'Liara chimed lowly
"It might be too late for that." Garrus wistfully uttered.
"All the same it's something. After Olympus Architecture went into decline, it was bought out by a third party contractor. Nothing special, save for the contractor had erased almost every shred of document attached to Olympus Architecture. As if they wanted to never wanted people to know it existed. I don't think mercs are running this, I'll keep you posted."
"Liara, how many construction zones are there in the Citadel? " Garrus asked pensively. There was a clicking of a key board before Liara answered.
"At least nine but I can't pinpoint where they've all been."
"This construction company likely planted bombs all over the place. Are there any other details or specific locations? That you can get"
"I'm sorry, Garrus…that will take time. I could look it up but in that time more could go off." Garrus nodded slowly. Clicking on his Omni Tool he tried getting through to Bailey's personal line. This time it went through.
"This better be good, cause I'm wading through a storm of shit right now."
"Bailey, it's me. Listen wherever Olympus Architecture worked there may be bomb threats and there are nine other places left where they worked. Please tell me you've kept tabs on where they are."
Tarak readied the last of his armor. He quickly calibrated his cybernetic arm and squeezed it into a fist twice before assuring himself that he was ready. For a second he nearly packed his gums with chew. Instead he hurled the can across the cargo bay room. Before heading to the elevator he unsheathed Jentha's knife a final time and put it up toward the light. It glinted lightly and Tarak could barely make out the old inscription etched into the blade. Faith. That was what Jentha translated to from Batarian. Faith. Personally Tarak disliked the name. Beyond that it was just a word…at least it used to.
Shaking off whatever emotions were trying to grab hold Tarak reached into one of his ammo pockets. First he pulled out a thermal clip and then a small stitching of cloth. It was satin and red…soft to touch. Nothing important. Tarak delicately folded the knife and clip into the cloth then placed it in the center of the cargo bay hold. An offering for Jentha's soul. Tarak nearly knelt forward on to his knee for prayer but remembered that he was running on limited time. Once on the elevator he activated his Omni Tool comm to Sharn.
"Alright, phase one went off without a hitch. Set off the secondary charges." There was a brief pause.
"Boss, are you sure about this? I mean for shit sake this is…" Tarak cut off Sharn and calmly replied.
"There is no turning back, Sharn. You know this as well as I do." Sharn huffed on the other end and continued.
"Whatever happened to no women, no kids or civilians? That was your code, right?" Tarak cracked his knuckles and asked coldly.
"Is team three in position?" There was silence. After a minute passed Tarak asked again with a hint of agitation. Tarak barely heard it but there was an affirmative. As he met with the ground team Tarak secured his helmet and readied his rifle.
"You're really pretty." Kennedy said in a hushed whisper. Karin grinned and pushed Kennedy's nose a little.
And you're even prettier, Kennedy." The young girl frowned and feverishly shook her head.
"Cricket. Everyone calls me Cricket." Karin laughed and nodded in agreement.
"Cricket then, how did you get that name?" Kennedy grew silent before burying her face back into Karin's coat.
"Mom called me that. She said it was because I jump around so much." The little girl stammered as if ready to cry again. Karin was quick to reassure Kennedy that everything was alright, promising her that she would be well soon. When the little girl asked why, Karin felt her lips purse into a light smile.
"Because the man taking care of her is very special." Karin said without realizing it. Kennedy returned her warm smile and asked.
"Is he a friend of yours?" Karin could only nod.
"Is he your best friend?" Kennedy mused with a finger to the side of her lip. Again all Karin could do was nod. Licking her lips Karin leaned backward onto the hospital wall and brushed her hair back behind her ear.
"Those are really pretty." Kennedy murmured. Karin's brow raised a hair.
"What's pretty, Cricket?" The little girl instantly pointed to her sea shell earrings.
"I like them. Mom has a pair just like them only they have more blue stuff."
"Turquoise you mean?" Kennedy nodded vigorously
"Yeah! That's what Mom called it! Turquoise!" The little girl chimed. Karin cradled the child a while longer. She was starting to think Garrus was never going to return with those blankets and pillows. That's when she spotted him. He was empty handed. She was preparing to scold him but then she noticed that look in his eyes. It was the same one Commander Shepard would get when something was horribly wrong.
"We have to get everyone out of here." He barked, as he urged Karin to help him.
"Garrus, what's going on?" Karin demanded.
"No time, just help me get everyone out of…" He was cut off as an ear piercing explosion rocked all of the room. Parts of the tiled roofing cracked and fell. Everyone started scrambling for the stairs but with all the people contested in the hospital there wasn't any room to run. Two more explosions shook the foundation. From the sound of things they were toward the lower floors blocking off the exits. Then a chilling silence swept over the floor as the lights flickered several times before dying. Garrus backed up slowly next to Karin and uttered.
"I was on the line with Bailey trying to narrow down possible bomb sights. As we were working out the details Blue Sun soldiers started advancing here. They wanted us in Huerta, they corralled us here."
"What about the patients?" Karin asked levelly.
"I already called ahead to the Normandy. They've got a Kodiak with Grunt on the way and the C-Sec forces here are evacuating the lower floors." Garrus counted silently under his breath. He had been since the first set of explosions went off. He was trying to gauge if they were timed intervals.
"What about the patients undergoing surgery?" Karin curtly asked. Garrus kept his eyes locked on the stairwell as he replied.
"I don't know." He reached the minute mark. No explosion His eyes scanned the room waiting. Suddenly there was a tugging at his leg. It was the little girl, Kennedy. Her eyes were glassy from crying and her nose was a little runny.
"Mister, will my mom be okay." Garrus was about to tell her the truth but Karin raised a hand to silence him and said reassuringly
"She'll be fine." Garrus gave her a light glare and whispered.
"We just can't lie to her, can we?"
"She's only a little girl." Karin whispered back. Right before he could agree there was another explosion but not a full scale one like before. It was something more akin to a handheld grenade or mine. Two more went off simultaneously, closer this time as if they were directly outside of the room they were in.
"Garrus." Karin breathed as Kennedy tightly clutched on her leg. Garrus didn't say a word and thumbed open his weapon holster. His hand found a comfortable place on his Predator hand cannon as his eyes darted over every corner of the room. Another explosion went off on the floor above them and then muffled movement.
"Breaching charges." Garrus growled to Karin. He moved back slowly until his back was planted on the corner of the main hallway door frame.
"Get everyone away from the walls and the door frames if possible." Garrus hissed. With that he drew his hand cannon and loaded a fresh thermal clip into it. With his free hand he reached up to his throat mic and clicked it on.
"L, send in Big Shot. They're making a move."
"On it." Was Liara's immediate reply. The rest of what she had said was cut short as a breaching charge cleared a hole in the adjacent hall from Garrus.
"Commander Shepard, I need you to move up to the Presidium Central Park, A group of Blue Suns just took up position and are giving the Citadel forces trouble." Liara ordered while she monitored everything from her personal computer. She was running support for Shepard and Garrus as their eye in the sky. Her hands rapidly fluttered over the computer touch screens, enhancing video and audio feeds all over the Citadel. The mercenaries rarely spoke and if so it was in code. All that was certain was that they were targeting "Honey Badger." Liara's first guess was C-Sec. It had to be.
Liara had several camera feeds running across from one another. Hacking the C-Sec monitoring grid was nothing. Admittedly they were offline but it was a simple enough fix. The Mercs were clever. Tracking everything that was happening was a different story. Shortly after Garrus requested back up things turned upside down. Two more sets of bombs went off near the human and Turian embassy. During that time Liara began seeing bands of mercenaries moving throughout the Citadel killing every C-Sec officer that stepped in their way. Excluding the Turians, C-Sec officers weren't soldiers trained for heavy combat. It was a massacre as civilian and Citadel forces were being gunned down.
"How's the situation at Huerta?"
"Grunt is still en route…" All Liara heard was Shepard letting out low inaudible curses before several shots rattled from his comm line. She cracked her fingers before rolling over to the feed of Huerta Memorial. Blue Suns were swarming the place. Liara tried getting through to Garrus but his comm had gone silent. His last contact had been seven minutes ago.
"Grunt, how close are you?" He didn't answer. Instead the distinctive ring of his M-300 Claymore echoed from the speakers. Several blasts came from his line along with a low chuckle. Satisfied with the answer he provided Liara wheeled back to the monitor of C-Sec, where the majority of the Blue Suns were concentrated.
"Thane, Kasumi how are things looking?"
"The Officers at the C-Sec HQ are barely holding ground. They need Zaeed and the others." Thane replied.
"They'll be there soon. Have you located Tarak?"
"Negative." Kasumi replied in monotone. Liara clasped her hands together and looked over to her drone.
"Glyph, expand the courtyard camera feed and enhance." Smoke billowed all around the building as civilians were being medevac'd away from the site. Not far off the brunt of the mercenaries carved a path straight toward C-Sec's central entrance. Citadel forces could do little against the heavily armed soldiers. Liara was compelled to turn away and stop looking at this brutality…almost…
"Alright, pull away our priority now is to locate Tarak." Both gave the affirmative in unison before heading out.
"You're all like bugs." Grunt spat before pumping another round into the group of mercenaries. The ones that avoided the blast continued to charge only to be knocked back by the Claymore's fire.
"Because you're puny." Grunt smashed another of the Blue Sun mercs over the head with his balled fist, killing him instantly. A second managed to get a lucky shot when his shield was drained. He didn't get another.
"Weak." The last of the mercs begged for life. Grunt felt sympathetic. So he shot him in the kneecap before shooting twice in the stomach.
"And I squash you so damned easily!" Picking up all the ammunition he could Grunt started to ascend the emergency route stairwell. The only place somewhat untouched by the heavy explosives.
"Next floor." Grunt grumbled.
"Maybe someone will actually have the balls to…" He didn't have time to complete that thought. Something tackled him from behind. A big something. It was a Blood Pack merc. A Krogan. Grunt laughed. Maybe this guy would be more fun. Rolling down the stairwell he placed several punches to the stomach while slamming his head plate into the Battle Master's. It didn't faze him in the least. Instead he started to laugh.
"Young blooded little…" When they reached the bottom of the stairs Grunt flipped the Warlord off and proceeded to drill punches into his torso and face hissing.
"Young blooded what?" The Warlord rose to his feet slamming Grunt to the adjacent wall. Forcing his hand to Grunt's skull plate the Battle Master slammed the back of Grunt's head into the cold concrete. This continued on until Grunt was sure he felt one of his fangs loosen from his gums. Despite the minor pain Grunt chuckled and quickly broke the hold. Without giving the other Krogan time enough to counter Grunt slammed his knee into the Warlord's gut making him wheeze and nearly fall forward. That was his moment. Grunt went in for the finishing strike with a hay maker.
"You sure don't know a lot, young blood." The Warlord taunted as he veered away from the punch.
"Bastard, you cheated." Grunt growled. The Warlord smiled.
"I did." It was Grunt's turn to smile.
"So did I." A cold feeling overwhelmed the Warlord. He never heard the crack of Grunt's M-5 Phalanx. He did however feel it's hyper accelerated round dig itself deep into his neck, followed by three more to his chest and stomach.
"Just enough for a blood rage I'd wager." Grunt mused before holstering his side arm and preparing for the fight of his life.
When the attack happened Wayne barely had enough time to get loaded out in his battle rattle. He along with Zaeed and Jack had secured a Kodiak transport to C-Sec HQ. Midway there Zaeed had the shuttle doors open and his M-409 readied.
"Bring us in lower!" He barked over the comm.
"Are you crazy, that place is too hot to…"
"Shut the hell up and listen to him! I like the way this man thinks!" Jack hollered back to the pilot. Shortly after they started leveling off Zaeed started pouring hot rounds into the Blue Suns lines, thinning them considerably. Jack's eyes grew like saucers as she watched the mass slaughter. Invigorated she strode over to the edge and quipped.
"If you'll excuse me my talents are best used on the front line." Before anyone could stop her Jack leapt from the Kodiak and used her biotic abilities along with several mercenaries to blanket her fall.
"She certainly didn't waste any time." Zaeed remarked before firing up the M-409 again. Between the heavy fire from above and the florescent blue energy bursts on the ground Wayne couldn't tell who was killing more. Either way the Blue Suns were being swatted away as if they were nothing.
"Nearing LZ, Commander." The pilot chimed on the comm. Wayne nodded his head before loading his M-96 Mattock and peeking out the side. Scoping in Wayne let loose two rounds both of which met their respective targets. Wayne quickly activated his comm and ordered.
"Pilot, circle us around, I want to see if I can spot their leader."
"Affirmative." The Kodiak veered to the right as it made another pass. Rounds digging deep into her hull. She wasn't going to last long. Wayne had to work fast.
"Zaeed, what am I looking for?" Zaeed mopped up one last line before having to change thermal clips. Unstrapping the back mounted repeater he dug into a pouch next to his feet and loaded two fist sized thermal clips into the heavy machine gun.
"He's Batarian he'll be near the front guaranteed. It's in their blood. Their entire race lives for war, I can at least give them that. Armor wise, Blue Sun Commanders armor is more streamlined that angular." With the new rounds loaded Zaeed reattached the repeater and resumed firing. With that Wayne kept a vigilant eye for their Commander until spotting his target. Everything seemed to slow as he scoped in on him. It was Tarak…it had to be.
"And that was his Name-o." Wayne breathed as he sucked in a small breath placing the lightest pressure on the trigger. Right as he fired the round an alarm started to blare and the Kodiak started to swerve. An anti-air system had targeted the Kodiak. The pilot called to hold on for evasive action before the Kodiak was struck by high grade explosive.
Sharn ordered his men to keep on pushing. With the Kodiak out of the air Shepard lost aerial advantage. Now all that was needed was to get rid of that biotic bitch. Marching toward where she was Sharn rubbed his cheek with Medi gel where the stray bullet grazed him. It was another battle scar.
"Is she slowing down any?' Sharn growled. The answer was obvious and discouraging. Looking to one of the rookie recruits Sharn ordered.
"Someone get the ML-77's on her." Some would say that was a misallocation but right now necessary. Sharn was not going to fail his mission. His pride as a soldier was on the line. Within moments the familiar roar of missiles filled Sharn's ears. She wasn't subdued her biotic powers shielded her from the blunt of the explosions
"Continue shelling her." Sharn hissed as he reached where she was. A massive bubble of men surrounded the biotic woman.
"I am not retreating." Sharn whispered to himself before readying his M-15 Vindicator. After several more seconds her biotic shields started to fade. Sharn counted the fissures until he saw his moment. Her shield faltered enough to allow a shot off. It was close but none the less met its target's knee. The woman crumbled in pain, yelling obscenities aimed toward Sharn.
"Cease fire." Sharn commanded while marching toward the young woman with his rifle readied.
"Fucking bastard!" She screeched. Sharn moved closer until he was arm's length to her. She was about send him flying via biotic kick but he simply slammed the butt of his rifle to her forehead twice and continued on to his goal. Stepping over the young woman he looked upward to the building. This was a feat…it made him smile inside. As he returned his gaze back to the main entrance a light glint caught his eye. Instantly looking toward its origin Sharn scoped in. It was a camera. He fired several rounds at it and activated his comm.
"Ocelot, we may have a problem. The bugger program we ran on the cameras didn't work."
"I've noticed, Revolver." Tarak spat from the mic as his line scrambled on.
"Besides that, I've taken the ground floor, what's your position?"
"Nearing Honey Badger now I'll be there in less than five."
One by one Liara was losing her camera feeds. They were onto her. More than that they were avoiding her entirely! All she had was warbled audio and that wasn't much. Not only that but Commander Shepard wasn't responding. By the Goddess if something happened to my Shepard…Liara shook her head lightly…not her Shepard…just Commander. Liara tried again with a similar result. Wheeling over to the Huerta feed Liara contacted Grunt.
"Not now…kind of busy." Grunt blurted out as he wheezed for breath.
"Grunt, I've lost Shepard!"
"Good for you." Grunt breathed before coughing several times. There was a brief moment of static before Liara heard a loud thud.
"Grunt, what's going on?" Liara stammered. Grunt didn't respond. Not right away.
"Just a little fun between friends. Right friend!" There was a bone shattering crunch and then a blood curdling roar. After that nothing but static. Liara tried reestablishing contact but like Shepard the comm went dark.
"Thane, do you read me?" Liara uttered as she wheeled back to the central computer.
"Yes." Thane said in near whisper.
"My camera feeds are cut, how is it ground side?"
"Interesting. The merc team splintered off from the assault on C-Sec into two groups. Both heading in completely different directions. I am following the first, Kasumi the second." Liara rubbed her chin. They were up to something.
"Can I get a rough idea where their headed?"
"The second toward the Normandy…as for the first I do not know." Thane replied before informing Liara he was going dark. Liara wasted no time and quickly linked up with Kasumi. The news she had was disheartening…Honey Badger wasn't a place…it was a person.
"Can you confirm this?"
"Liara, I've got audio on them. They made mention of Honey Badger as a woman three times. It's solid. I don't have anything else but we were wrong. It's someone and their closing in on her really fast. Thane promised to try and hold them off but I don't know how long he'll last." Liara cut off the line and promptly linked to the Normandy.
It was a broken arm…had to be. Along with a broken rib and possibly broken leg. Grunt wasn't in that good of shape. Sucking in some deep breaths he forced himself off the ground and wiped the blood from his lip. Had to hand it to the old man he was good. Thing about being old though was you tired faster. Weren't good in fights long, especially if you entered a blood rage. Not like young blooded pups…all fire and nothing else. Looking at the old man made Grunt's blood boil. It was time to end him. Grunt felt it, wanted it. His eyes rolled over to silvery blue orbs. His senses numbed a little but sharpened as well. Grunt couldn't so much as hear but feel the Warlord across from him. He felt his breathing, heartbeat…everything. Before he knew it Grunt was charging toward him. It wasn't his choice not really. His legs were just moving. In an instant he was upon the Warlord burrowing his fists into the man's head, torso, and stomach hell anywhere a fist could go Grunt found where. Eventually he reached for a piece of rubble and started using that as well. By the time he was calmed the Warlord was unmistakably dead. Grunt's blood rage sated he rolled over onto ground and rested his back against the wall. He rested up for a couple moments until his adrenaline slowed and he was more himself. Taking a long breath Grunt tried to stand. His leg wasn't broken but his arm definitely was. He quickly grabbed his Claymore and looked to the stairs.
"Okay…now the next floor." He hissed while he trudged toward the stairs, wincing in pain every step of the way. There was little resistance after his initial scuffle. Someone already picked off a lot of the Blue Suns. This made Grunt agitated. He was looking for a challenge! Still, being able to rest for the moment was nice. Even so it was just a moment. Two Vorcha armed with M-451 Firestorms descended the stairwell.
The Blue Suns that were left were starting to panic. More of them started heading to the lower floor. Grunt must have been making a big mess of things. It wasn't easy but Garrus was able to hold off the mercenaries. Regardless he was running out of thermal clips and the Blue Suns kept charging. One more solid run down that narrow hallway and Garrus knew he wouldn't last.
The civilians and patients huddled together, all praying to different deities in alien tongues. Some were familiar and easy to distinguish while others Garrus had never heard before. All the same he knew the meaning. Peeking out from cover Garrus counted five men across the hall. Four rounds…Garrus thought limply. Listening for their footsteps and the jingle of their ammo clips Garrus let out small breath. His grip continually tightened until his hand was numb. With every step they took Garrus tensed up even more until the point he snapped. Rolling out of cover Garrus threw the second to last of his flash bangs toward the group of soldiers and hastily jumped back to cover. When that all too familiar pop went off Garrus rushed forward. All of their front line was disoriented unable to see or hear. Garrus wasted no time and placed his first round into a mercenary's head. Rushing past the falling corpse Garrus fired the second round into another head. By this time the flash bang was losing affect. The third just barely managed to get a shot through Garrus' kinetic barrier to his lower right side. Garrus winced it was just a graze but still stung like hell. It didn't stop his momentum as he rammed full force into the Blue Sun mercenary directly in front of him. Wrenching the auto rifle from his hands Garrus dropped low and readied the rifle firing until the clip until it was dry, leaving none of the soldiers alive.
Garrus knelt as he gasped for air. He was not going to do that again…ever. With blood pocketing around his grazed rib he chuckled. Garrus was terrified. If he failed all those innocent lives…he didn't want to think about it. So he laughed to cover up the fear that he could have failed them. Regaining composure he looked up. There were more. He should have known. Grasping at his rifle he uttered with spite.
"Waiting on you gentlemen!" Several Blood Pack and Blue Sun mercenaries slowly approached with their rifles at the ready. Garrus narrowed his eyes and removed his visor. He blinked his eyes a couple of times and loaded a fresh round into the Avenger. He brought the gun to bare his mandibles extended full…challenging them to come near. Several rounds struck him lowering his kinetic barrier. Another round dug into his stomach as the group steadily marched closer. Garrus coughed blood as he closed his eyes. Another shot this time to the chest. With blood pooling all around him Garrus let out a bone shattering roar. He forced himself upward toward the mercs with the avenger firing in all directions and in that instant everything turned to ash.
Right as he had ascended the stairwell Grunt could see all of the action. Grunt had seen some ballsy turians before but this one was just lost in the head…in the good way. For being out gunned, outnumbered and wounded severely the little turian, Garrus had held his own. Just as the mercs approached him he had barreled into their ranks with nothing but a sidearm and fire in his eyes. However after gunning the first row down he failed to see the secondary wave. Just as Garrus was about to be overwhelmed Grunt joyfully lit up his newly acquired M-451 Firestorm, affectively toasting the last of the Blue Sun mercenary team. Without a word Grunt marched over to Garrus and helped him to his feet. After applying a good dose of Medi Gel to his wounds they went to make sure everyone was safe and to ensure it was really over.
SUP PEOPLEEEEESSSSSSS! I have not updated in a lonnnng time. I apologize but as usual my college has once again eaten up time! That being said I have only one more year until one of my degrees is finished! With that, Constructive criticism is welcome! (it's good to be back…if only for a lil bits!...happy new year...yada yada...)