Chapter 20: Subject #0 meet Subject Vercopa
Kal hated the feeling that they were quickly losing control of the situation, it reminded him too much of Afterlife. He shouldn't have pushed Jack to reach out to the bosh'tets on the Citadel in the first place, they wouldn't have been in this scenario if he just kept his mouth shut. Instead, they were running around a small exploding prison station trying to catch the best biotic he had ever seen while simultaneously trying to hide from an assassin that wanted all three of them dead. That wasn't even putting the station's integrity into consideration. If he got the chance to take out Leng he would certainly take it but, there was no way in hell he was going to leave Jack's side to hunt him down.
The three of them were walking through a massive trail of destruction the girl had left behind. In the wrong hands, this kind of raw power could take down governments, let alone space stations. He couldn't let The Illusive Man have this kind of unlimited power, especially since last he heard, Cerberus was still at war with the flotila. He could only imagine what kind of damage she could do to an already fragile Quarian ship. While he had no love for the fleet's leadership, he wasn't going to put innocent Quarian civilians lives in the crossfire. Kal wanted to talk about the possibility of just killing her with Jack but, with Miranda so close by that was definitely a no go. He was going to have to do this solo, and let the consequences hit him afterwards.
Jack tapped his omni tool, "EDI, any idea where she's going so we can cut her off?"
He was still trying to get used to letting an AI into his suit's comm system but EDI was useful, "My current calculations predict Jack is heading for our docking bay. Sending the best available route to you now."
Jack seemed understandably reluctant even though he nodded, "You heard her, the quicker we get back to the ship, the sooner we can get Jack out of here..."
Kal let Jack and Miranda take the lead to cover the rear this time as they started wandering through the station. The Blue Suns were definitely thinning out, having to deal with every single inmate from the facility suddenly getting freedom, however Kal still found himself shooting at one or two of them that were on the upper levels. It felt a little strange working in this close of a unit again after Omega, Garrus was a lot looser command wise. As long as they got the job done, Garrus usually let each team member split up out of his sight. Jack on the other hand liked to keep his team back to back with him, Kal didn't mind it was just new again.
He had trusted Miranda to watch his left flank, that was a big mistake. She was much more interested in shooting at a Blue Suns mech in front of them to notice one of the inmate's charging his body into Kal's side. Kal let himself fall like his training taught him only to use that momentum to try and throw the inmate over his head. Unfortunately, the inmate grabbed onto his suit causing them both to roll along the ground away from Jack and Miranda. They hit something, maybe the back wall, with a hard thud and Kal groaned lightly from the impact. His initial reaction was to call out for help but, one of the inmate's hands covered his mouthpiece. That was a common mistake for people wanting to strangle Quarian's, the tubing behind helmets provided the necessary air exchange. Covering the mouthpiece just made him silent. He could feel the inmate's free hand fishing around his suit pockets for weapons but, Kal still had a pistol in each hand. A shot to the gut and the temple made the inmate instantly collapse in a heap on top of him.
Jack turned around and started to walk back towards him, "Hey, are you ok?"
Kal grumbled wiping blood off his helmet, "Yeah I was just a little careless..."
He stood up to rejoin them when suddenly a kinetic barrier split the room in half, separating them. Kal could only think of one good reason for internal barriers deploying like this and that was a hull breach. He wouldn't be surprised if one of the girls' biotic attacks missed the mark and caused massive collateral damage to the ship. This was exactly the reason why she couldn't be in The Illusive Man's hands, even the smallest hull breach could cause wide spread panic on a Quarian ship.
Miranda frowned finally joining Jack on the other side of the barrier, "Looks like a kinetic barrier. Since we're still breathing I'm guessing it's on your side Reegar."
Jack had a worried expression on his face as he scanned the barrier with his omni tool, "It's reading as that for sure, I don't think I can hack a hole to get you through."
Kal checked the HUD on the inside of his helmet, "Your both right, my suit has switched to it's internal oxygen supply." He looked at Jack taking a comforting tone, "Don't worry I have three hours, I'll EVA to the Normandy if I have to."
EDI's calm and monotone voice actually relaxed him right now, it reminded him of his pilgrimage, "Such a drastic step will not be required Kal. I am reading a secondary path to the Normandy that will take you five minutes to complete."
Jack let out a sigh, obviously letting go of some fear, "Alright, see you on the ship and be careful."
Kal started following the path EDI set for him slowly, monitoring heat signatures around him. Unfortunately, the biotic energy from the girl was so intense that it was hard to isolate any other readings. Not even Asari Matriachs had this kind of raw biotic power so, why was a Human teenager this strong? The question would have to wait, he was hearing whistling coming from the vents above him. He tried turning around but, the door had sealed to contain the breach. Jack had been in a panic for her life, she wouldn't be making that kind of confident sing-song type noises. If he was lucky, it was just another random inmate about to pounce on him, Kal knew better, this was Leng.
He fired a few random blasts into the ceiling to give him time to think, "EDI, tell Garrus to stop whatever he's doing and get to my location as soon as possible. Tell Jack I'm going to be delayed.."
Jack would've surely wanted to help him kill this bastard but, he wasn't sure Miranda wouldn't try and stop them. She may have had a beef with the assassin, it just probably wasn't a big enough one to kill him in the open. With Garrus, all Kal had to worry about was if the Turian was too stupid to realize he needed to let him do the heavy lifting. All he needed was for Leng to be distracted on two fronts, that's how he lost last time. Kal had a strong feeling that Leng was directly above him but he didn't fire immediately, Dad taught him to only pull the trigger when he had something in his sights.
That annoyingly cocky voice got louder, "It's adorable you think you'll last long enough for the Turian to get here. You know, I was hoping to find you alone in here, it'll just make Shepard's pain more real. Knowing you tried and failed to protect him from me."
Kal tensed getting ready to absorb a hit, "Why don't you come down here and find o-"
The sudden pressure from thick, shiny, black armored legs around Kal's throat cut him off. He made a calculated risk to not fire at those thighs and let Leng lift him off the ground. Sure, he wasn't able to breath for a few painfully long seconds but, he would get a better shot once he was closer to the assassins' body. At the last possible second before he was sure he would pass out, Kal arched his wrist upwards and shot the rest of his thermal clip into the darkness. He heard a very satisfying howl and the grip on his throat turned to jello and they both crumpled to the floor.
Leng grunted in pain clutching his side angrily, "You cheating fucker! All you Quarians are all the same." He lashed out with his sword swinging for Kal's legs on the ground near by, "I'm going to kill you, and then your filthy lover!"
At first Kal thought he was seeing things from his temporary lack of air, looking at him with a cough, Kal realized he was wearing Cerberus armor and using his signature sword. There was no way the Blue Suns would've kept those in the armory. He was convinced now more than ever that this entire favor to get this Jack off of Purgatory was really just a charade to free Kai Leng. Kal tossed his empty pistol out of his hand and fired the remaining blasts from his other pistol. However, the combination of Kal recovering oxygen and the assassin's agility made his attempts useless.
Leng charged forward with the tip of his sword barely missing Kal's hood, and instead exposed sparking wires from the wall, "If you weren't so angry you might've actually killed me!"
He took a hard knee to the gut but, he used the knife he got earlier to slash at Leng's cheek. A headbutt sent Kal backward and he could see a crack in his helmet slowly start to form, damnit knowing the germs in here that was going to get a cold. Leng tried to make the crack bigger with a second headbutt while their hands struggled over his sword. From his new perspective looking up at the ceiling, Kal could see the sparking wires just above his head. When Leng attempted to headbutt him a third time, Kal grabbed the wires and thrusted them upward into the Human's eyes. He was about to use his other hand to stab his gut but, a biotic wave pulsed through sending them both flying.
The feeling of his spine slamming into hard metal at such a high speed made his suit stab him with all the medi-gel it had. He was swimming in a numbing agent and could only watch as Leng stumbled at top speed into the distance out of sight. Kal reached for his dagger to try and defend himself when he stopped at the sight of the girl's glowing tattoo covered ankle. His heart panged at the realization that all of her tattoos were to cover injection marks and experiment notations. He felt like he was looking at himself when he was her age, she was a lab rat just like him. The thought of killing her vanished like a bad dream, no he needed to help her get through this. Kal knew he was the only one that could truly understand her, and he would be paying the kindness Shelrrik showed him on his pilgrimage forward.
She slowed to a stop looking down at him as he got up, "Shit, your actually alive still? I thought you Quarians died from a puncture the size of a Volus dick, not a crack like that."
Kal smeared omni gel on the crack as a temporary fix partially blinding him, "I'm not your average Quarian, Jack..." He decided to make a direct question, "What was your codename or number growing up?"
She started glowing brighter with biotics again, "Fuck you and wherever you came from!"
Garrus' voice came in through his helmet with a whisper, "I have a shot on her, just give the word and she'll drop."
Kal used the hand behind his back to sign, "NO! Just trust me, please." Aloud Kal spoke gently, like he was approaching a wild animal, "I was known as Subject Vercopa, or, Subject Hope in Quarian. My first memory was my father telling me he was going to inject me with enough viruses to make my brain mush. From the time I was born until I turned sixteen I was an experiment. He wanted me to breed new immunities into the Quarian population."
Jack shook her head pacing back and forth aggressively, "Bullshit! No way in hell you would be standing here if that happened!"
Garrus' voice became urgent, "Kal your not making things better, if I don't take a shot soon my bullet wouldn't be able to get past her barrier."
His hand urgently signed, "No, do not take that shot!" Knowing he had already been exposed to germs, he rolled up one of his sleeves quickly and pointed to his own injection marks, "This was when I was five, pneumonia that kept me from a friend's birthday party. This was when I was three, gave me seizures for six months. This one here, yeah, when I hit puberty my father decided I needed a temporary STD... I know what it's like to be strapped to a medical table every day for weeks and never know if you'll walk again. Jack...let me help you, at least get you some clothes and a ship out of here."
She seemed to relax just a little speaking softly, "I was Subject Zero, the first washed up orphan fuck to get sent to Noveria... So I'm used to the cold, could use some food though."
Kal let out a silent breath he didn't know he had been holding, "Then you can follow me, I'm not a good cook really but I promise I'll protect you."