Ivea's breath was caught in his throat as he stood erect with his back pressed against the wall and his pistol in his hands.
On the other side of the door frame he leaned against was Sam he looked up at him and gave a small nod.
He closed his eyes and activated his omni-tool.
He could hear the silent patter of boots on the other side of the door but the moment he successfully unlocked the door everything stopped.
Alenia stood behind Ivea silently breathing deeply.
Sam motioned for Alenia to advance forward to scout it out.
Alenia gave a nod and opened the door then immediately ran silently into the shadows and seemed to disappear.
Sam looked to Ivea and gave a small nod.
It was his turn now.
He ran in quietly and took cover behind a nearby crate.
He typed on his omni-tool then waited a moment.
A light blinked over his hand which meant his scan of nearby body heat was complete.
He frowned at the scanner which only picked up his and Sam's readings not even Alenia's heat was showing up.
Looks like I have to do it the old fashioned way.
He slowly peeked up and narrowed his eyes.
Nothing.
There wasn't anything but crates littered around the research base.
No people that he could or his scanners could see.
But his training with Alenia taught him even now there could be something he's missing.
He took a deep breath and began to speedily move forward to the next cover while staying low.
Still nothing.
Something feels wrong.
He peeked up again and shook his head.
Whatever was here was waiting for him to show his face.
If he went any further he'd be in the middle of the room with only a small crate for cover.
Don't do it don't do it.
He sighed and shook his head, there was no other option.
He sprang up and began running towards the door across the wide open room.
Suddenly he heard a woman scream viciously as the ground beneath him exploded, sending him airborne.
Suddenly his head was where his feet was and he was falling.
He slammed into the ground head first and fell on his back with his suit absorbing most of the impact.
He blinked rapidly as he immediately went into combat mode.
Using the momentum of the biotic explosion that sent him into the air he tucked his legs in and rolled back onto his feet.
Panting, he sprinted towards the nearby cover and skidded behind it.
He couldn't identify where the woman was based on that explosion by any means.
However, that scream gave her away. She was on the upper level directly in front of his cover.
With a smirk Ivea began to grab a grenade off of his belt.
With his new modifications to it it would freeze her solid and-
Suddenly he couldn't move.
No he was moving but he was moving...up towards the ceiling!
His eyes began darting around looking for some explanation, any!
He looked down and saw a giant glowing ball of biotic energy.
It was then he remembered of the technique many used called a 'singularity'.
He floated helplessly in the air with the crates floating all around him.
His heart sped as he locked eyes with the woman in control of the singularity.
She smirked and raised a pistol at his visor.
Suddenly a rain of gunfire erupted from down below causing the woman to fall back to avoid being filled with holes.
"IVEA GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!" Sam screamed as she continued holding the trigger to keep the woman from poking her head up.
"I-I really would if I could!" Ivea yelled back simply floating around, unable to move.
I've been up here for so long! These biotics...
Sam cursed loudly as her assault rifle hissed just as loud while it vented the heat it built up from such a long barrage.
She narrowed her eyes as she made a split second decision.
She threw it down on the ground as she sprinted toward the singularity.
"ALENIA COVER FIRE!" She screamed as she kicked a box in front of her into the singularity.
It hit the ball of energy and slowly began floating up as pistol shots rang out from the shadows across the room aimed at the biotic above.
Sam sprinted and jumped on the box she kicked and pushed off as hard as she could sending her flying towards Ivea who still floated helplessly.
She winced as she felt the lack of control she had while in this singularity but still flew up at Ivea.
The two slammed into each other causing Ivea to get knocked out of range of the singularity.
Suddenly everything slowed down as he flew a little higher toward the ceiling and began falling.
He saw the biotic slowly began to stand up from her cover as the barrage from Alenia ended.
He saw her frown as she began aiming her pistol at Sam who still floated helplessly.
Ivea's eyes went wide as he whipped his pistol out and in a moment took aim, then fired directly at her skull.
The shot tore clean through and ended the singularity causing the two to slam into the ground.
Ivea slowly stood up and cracked his neck with a growl as his adrenaline slowly began to fade.
He looked over to same who laid on the ground moaning and grabbing her head.
Ivea ran over and knelt down.
"Sam?!" Ivea yelled as he held her up in his arms.
She quietly chuckled and looked up at him.
"I saved your life again. And to repay me you let me fall on my head." Ivea's eyes went wide as he bowed his head.
"I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to...if I could've helped I-" Sam began laughing, cutting him off.
"What no Captain in there?" Ivea frowned in confusion.
"C-Captain? But you said it wasn't my ship, I am not apart of your crew."
Now Sam frowned in confusion.
"What? No I meant you weren't the Captain. Jeez you mean all this was over a mistranslation?" Ivea began laughing, filled with relief.
"I-I believe so...Captain."
"Oh stop you're gonna make me blush, now help me get up crew member!" Ivea lifted her with ease and sat her down on her feet.
She swayed at first but then stood upright.
"Right, Alenia? Report?" Suddenly the Drell jumped down from the second level.
"I have killed the remaining guards who were attempting to hide. There is nothing more up there."
Sam nodded with a frown and looked at the door across the room Ivea was originally running to.
"Looks like it's door number two then."
. . . .
The door slid open revealing computer the size of the wall with only a small holo projecter in front of it.
Ivea slowly walked in then waved for the other two.
He went up to the projector and activated it.
A tiny sphere appeared before him and blinked with every word, "Welcome to the Enhanced Defense Initiative compound. How may I help you?"
Ivea looked to Sam then to the computer.
"What is this place?" He asked looking all around the otherwise empty room.
"Error. Data missing."
The machine hissed in a very inorganic tone.
Ivea frowned and stared at the sphere.
"What is the purpose of this compound?"
"Error. Data missing."
Ivea hissed quietly as he curled his hands into fists.
"What is the Enhanced Defense Initiative?"
"Error. Da-"
"YOU BOSH'TET I'LL PULL YOU OUT OF THERE AND SCRAP YOU!" Ivea screamed as the computer was silent.
"This machine has encountered an error in processing your request, please contact New Dawn Pharmaceuticals." Then the machine was gone.
Ivea turned to Sam who frowned at the ground.
"That name...I remember hearing it somewhere...anyway let's head back for now, we got all we can get."
. . . .
"Why exactly were your people still there?" The Illusive Man growled into his holo pad on the arm of his chair.
"I-I'm sorry sir I told them to purge the computer's memory and leave but they stayed behind and-"
The Illusive man cut him off with a deep frown.
"And now they have a lead to go off of. Your services are no longer required." He growled and ended the call.
Immediately he dialed another number.
"See to it the head of the EDI project is taken care of."
Then he ended the call and took a long drag off his cigarette clearing his head off all his stress.
. . . .
"That's why it sounded so familiar." Sam said shaking her head as the three stood within an empty room with only a rectangular table and seven chairs with one at the head of it.
"I read an Alliance report of suspicious activity from that corporation involving suspicious amounts of funds coming and going. What are we supposed to do with that though?" She whispered to herself shaking her head again.
Ivea sat quietly at the table and looked across the table where Alenia sat quietly with her hands resting on the table and her eyes closed.
Then Ivea looked up at Sam who stood against the wall behind the chair at the end of the table.
"Well I could get into their system and schedule a meeting with the head person there. We could question them on their activity with Cerberus." Ivea spoke up causing Sam to look over with a raised eyebrow.
"Could you really do that?"
Ivea bit his lip lightly and nodded.
"Yeah but I need some time and a computer. As much as I love my omni-tool it's not powerful enough for what I need."
Sam slowly nodded.
"I have one in my cabin you can use. Dismissed." Alenia got up and left for the cargo hold and Sam went to her cabin leaving Ivea in the meeting room staring at the same wall with his heart racing.
"Y...Your...cabin?" He whispered.