Chapter 31: The Phantom Knights

The trip to the Dantius Towers was a quiet one as the four of them sat in the back of Shelrrik's shuttle. Normally in a regular Kodiak shuttle, they would've been forced to sit tightly together on a single row of seats. However, because the ship was made for four Elcor to sit comfortably, they had even more room to sit around. The space gave Kal plenty of privacy to consider attacking Miranda right now, he knew what she was up to. The Elcor were known for taking in stray children so, it would be fairly easy to convince The Illusive Man that Oriana just miraculously escaped and got Shelrrik to help her. Why Miranda was so hell bent on keeping her name away from any report The Illusive Man would see on the topic was beyond him. Wasn't she a part of his inner circle? She certainly acted like she was on the Normandy.

Shelrrik spoke from the front seat, "With anxiety and concern, is everyone alright back there? The silence is making me worry."

Kal tried to sound as relaxed as possible, "We're fine Shel, just a little tense knowing what we have to do tonight after our visit."

Shelrrik's black eyes looked at the mirror to the back seat, "Knowingly, you cannot trick me with that tone Kal. Something is wrong, and yet, you do not wish to tell me."

Miranda folded one leg over the other in her seat facing away from the mirror, "He's just worried I'm planning something that is quite frankly beneath me." In a sloppy version of Kelr'ya she signed, "I don't resort to killing a two hundred something year old Elcor to get what I want. Relax, I have you."

Shelrrik blinked a few times, "Mildly confused, I do not know whether to be panicked or relieved."

Kal answered aloud, "It's nothing to worry about Shel, just my work." He quickly signed back, "Fuck you for not telling me what you were doing. This was a threat, one I won't tolerate."

Jack coughed glaring at them both, "Could you not do whatever your doing with your hands? We all know your having a conversation and it's fucking annoying."

Shelrrik was the first to speak, "Sympathetically, you will get used to it child. Relieved, we are here."

Miranda opened her door with a tilt of her head, "It won't happen again."

Kal saw genuine shame in her face as she exited the shuttle. He would've maybe forgiven her if he thought she actually felt sorry for putting the Elcor in the middle of this. The problem was that he only believed she was pretending to be sorry to keep him on board with her mission. Everything was just a game to her so she could get what she wanted, none of the emotions she chose to show off were real. It was probably a good way to interact with an abusive father but not the rest of the world. Maybe if she hadn't then been taught by The Illusive Man to be a cold hearted spy afterwards she would be a better person. Then again maybe not, Miranda seemed like someone who enjoyed every second of what she did.

Now that he wasn't focused on worrying about what Miranda was going to do, Kal could stare in awe at the section of the Dantius Towers they were under. The two towers twisted around each other like lovers in a tight embrace connected with multiple bridges connecting the towers. Kal wondered how the Asari architects managed to pull off such stunning curves without the entire structure collapsing. His best guess was that gravity on Illium was a fraction less than the galactic standard and thus let designers get away with things like this. After they defeated the Reapers once and for all, he would love to become a blueprint artist for a place like this.

He helped Shelrrik open her shuttle but noticed she was staring at the door to presumably her apartment, "What's wrong?"

The Elcor gave her best impression of a shrug, "Self loathingly, I seemed to have forgotten to close my door before I left my home. My mind isn't what it once was apparently."

Garrus grabbed his rifle and tensed, "Unless you invited a couple of assassins, I don't think you left the door open. I'm reading six individuals inside the apartment with very similar energy signatures with those on Luna."

Miranda gave him a stunned look, "Impossible, the assassins you encountered on Luna were Cerberus Phantom Knights. They wouldn't even know any of us would come here tonight."

Jack was glowing bright blue and threw a biotic warp forward, "Think again sweetheart, I think your status as Cerberus cheerleader is over."

Kal watched as Jack's warp collided with a sword that had been tossed right at them. His gut twisted into a thousand knots as the sword returned to one of the assassins and they flipped back to their feet. Garrus and Kal had actually seen these people twice, once on Luna working for Kai Leng, and the other time on Omega with Cora Harper. While the first possibility was certainly dangerous, the second gave him chills down his spine. He had lied to Jack about everyone involved in her experimentation was dead to protect her. What if Cora was here to reclaim her prize possession? His immediate concern had to be get Jack out of here and then get the three of them as far away from Cerberus as possible. No matter who sent the Knights, it was clear Miranda was burned and The Illusive Man had betrayed them all.

Shelrrik stumbled about on her front two legs, "Sheer panic and terror, Run, run back to the shuttle."

Kal started shooting at the first assassin who was spinning back into the apartment, "Jack, take Shel and get out of here. That's an-"

A sword swinging directly for his throat made Kal duck and switch targets to the assassin that appeared right next to him. He tried to get a shot off but, the assassins' thigh slapped it aside with one of their kicks as they tried to stab him with the sword. Since his helmet was still covered with omni gel, it was going to be difficult to fight hand-to-hand but, he had to try. He side stepped away from the stabbing thrust to try and elbow them across the temple. The assassin ducked, turned ninety degrees on one knee, and tried to stab him again, only to be shot by Garrus. The Turian was floating in the air with his jetpack and shooting down at the assassins with his rifle.

Jack lifted the second assassin in the air with her biotics and tossed them off the ledge of the landing pad into Illium's traffic lane, "Fuck that! If your staying, I'm staying."

He picked up his shotgun from off the ground and shot at another assassin coming closer, "We had a deal you would listen to what I said Jack."

To his frustration, Shelrrik was out of the shuttle as well with combat drones surrounding her, "With regained composure, leave my home or be destroyed."

Kal knew they were too stubborn to listen to him and turned his attention to the remaining three assassins. Two were on Miranda desperately slashing and swinging at her but she seemed to know their movements, and was able to anticipate where they were going to swing next. He saw several openings she had to kill them but, she curiously chose not to. The other assassin was jumping on top of Shelrrik's shuttle trying to get closer to Garrus who was floating still and looking down his scope. Kal didn't hesitate to fire but, because of the gel on his helmet, he missed wildly. The assassin spun around to see him and jumped in the air to stab at him. Jack caught them in mid air and hurled them away from the building.

Jack gave him a confident smirk, "Your welcome by the way.. Oww, son of a!"

One of the assassins Miranda was playing with had grabbed her pistol and shot at Jack. Thankfully, the shot only clipped across Jack's shoulder but, it made him panic. He knew Miranda was just trying to get information out of the two remaining assassins but, they were starting to actually hurt people he cared about. He took a point blank shot at the first assassin killing them instantly while Garrus took another headshot killing the second. An uncomfortable silence fell over them as the last assassin fell. The implications of the attack were pretty obvious, they had lost Cerberus support, and yet none of them wanted to say it aloud.

He looked over at Jack who was putting medi gel on her shoulder wound, "How bad is it?"

Jack seemed to shrug it off, "The bullet went all the way through at least so I think I'm fine."

Kal walked over to her to make sure she didn't make a mess of the wound, "There's a reason I told you to go with Shelrrik, these people are dangerous and could have killed you."

Jack glared at him with real anger, "They almost killed you three times if I wasn't there, so don't act like your somehow more qualified to deal with them then I am."

They all jumped when Miranda shouted loudly, "Enough! Both of you just shut up! I need time to think..."

It was the first time Kal had seen her display any real emotion that he could believe. On the surface, Miranda was just angry the two of them were fighting. Underneath that though, Kal could see an untamed fear dancing across her eyes from the attack. He assumed that she was protected from her father by The Illusive Man, and now that protection had disappeared in the blink of an eye. With that in mind, Kal started to turn his omni tool back on, he needed to warn Shepard not to trust anyone Cerberus related.

Miranda marched directly up to him, "What are you doing with that? I told you to leave it off."

Kal tapped his contacts for Jack, "I'm telling Jack that he needs to look out for those assassins. He won't be expecting them wherever he is."

She yanked his omni tool off and chucked it over the landing pad railing, "Shepard's fine, The Illusive Man wouldn't jeopardize the mission fighting the Collectors. This is all about me."

Garrus bent down over the only dead assassin still on the landing pad, "This is Cerberus armor Miranda, Kal's right we need to call Shepard."

Shelrrik's monotone voice jumped in, "Scoldingly, Kal what have you gotten yourself into now? Cerberus is a terrorist group intent on killing all aliens. Sarcasm, that includes you if you were not-"

Kal interrupted her, "Not now Shel. Miranda, we need to get out of here right now and find Shepard. Your sister might not even be here if this was just a trap to get you killed."

Miranda shook her head, "No, you don't understand, Niket would never just sell me out like this, we've known each other for years."

Jack coughed standing next to him, "Guys, there's a fucking construction vehicle sticking out of the building up there."

Garrus laughed, staring at the strange sight, "Shepard must've been asked to drive again, he's the only person I know who can miss a landing pad that badly."

Miranda bit her lower lip, "We still have a chance to save Oriana. Come on, we have to get out of here."

Kal wanted to flee with Jack right now but, his cyar'ika was still in danger. For now he had to follow Miranda wherever she was going. He just hoped it wasn't already too late.