Chapter 12: Revenge and its Price

Minuteman Station:

"Hold him back!"

"Argh!"

"We can't stop him!"

Mercenaries had highjacked a Cerberus base in the Horse Head Nebula. They had intended this to be an ambush, but Shepard had other plans. He plowed through the mercs, cutting more down as he blasted through. Shepard took cover behind a metal crate. Two mercenaries fire wildly at the spectre, blocking the elevator. An arc of blue energy shot out of Shepard's hand, sending the two mercs floating through the air. He walked toward the helpless mercs, picking them off one at a time with his M-23 Katana.

The elevator doors swung open. Shepard walks in, not knowing what he'll find when he gets to the top floor. But one thing was certain. "She'd better be alive!"

The Normandy, comm room

hours ago:

Shepard had just finished briefing the council on the quarian/geth situation and while they are genuinely concerned about the new geth threat, along with the Reapers, what angered Shepard was their relative indifference to the amount of lives lost, calling it "a Migrant fleet concern". Two million dead quarians was not what Shepard would call a "Migrant fleet concern." This was a threat by the Reapers and what could possibly be what comes next for the rest of the galaxy.

Shepard you've got a new message from operative Lawson. E.D.I announced.

"Put her through." Shepard ordered.

There was a long silence and finally voice came from the other side. "Shepard ignore this message its a..." The voice was shaky and panicked, it belonged to Miranda. She was interrupted by a loud thud and a feral roar a moment later.

There was another pause. "Miranda whats going on? Miranda come in!" Shepard ordered.

"I'm sorry but your Cerberus dog is indisposed at the moment." A deeper raspier voice said in a mocking way.

Shepad knew the voice. "Tombs?"

"Right you are, Shepard!"

Shepard's hands balled into fists. "Tomb's if you did anything to her I swear there isn't a place in this whole galaxy I wont go to kill you."

"You aren't in the position to make threats!" He hollered. "You joined Cerberus! The experiments they did on me were monstrous, I'm going to pay them back for the years of my life they stole from me!"

"I'm not going to reason with you Tomb's! Now you tell me where she is!"

A faint chuckle could be heard in the back ground, The connection cut. "E.D.I did you get where that transmission came from?"

It came from a Cerberus facility in the Horse Head nebula.

"Chart a course for that base E.D.I!"

Minuteman Station,

Miranda's office:

It took a few moments to get to the top floor, with each second feeling like an eternity. Miranda had saved him from death and became a friend. They didn't always agree, but he'd do anything she asked and would gladly give his life for her.

The elevator screeched open. The room was in disarray and light was almost absent. Miranda was on the floor, bound, gagged and beaten... but alive. Tombs stood over her, holding a pistol to her head. "I'm glad you could make it Shepard!" His voice was rage filled. "Now you'll watch as I kill this Cerberus bitch!" He threatened.

Shepard grip on his shotgun tightened. "Tombs." He grunted.

"It's nothing personal..." He didn't finish. Shepard bioticaly charged across the room in a blue flash, slamming Tombs against the window.

Shepard held his shot gun under Tombs' chin. "You're right." Shepard spoke coldly and with out emotion, his eyes were predatory. "Nothing personal!" The room erupted with the blast of Shepard's shot gun.

Shepard threw his weapon aside and ran to Miranda, rapidly untying her bonds. Miranda was motioning her head towards the side of the room and trying to say something but her voice was muffled by the gag. Shepard looked up, a man stood watching them on the other side of the room. His face was concealed, but you could tell he was human. "I was waiting for you, Shepard." His voice was rough and gravelly. "You're a hard man to find."

Shepard reached to his side to draw his pistol. A bang and the sudden impact of a concussive shot hitting him in the chest prevented him. "Twenty years, Shepard." His voice rasped. He walked out of the shadows, boots clattering on the metal floor. "Twenty years I chased, Vido and you let'em get away!"

He wore yellow armor that appeared to have seen many a battle. "Zaheed?" Shepard gasped trying to catch his breath.

He stepped into the light, his face horrifically scared by burns, Shepard caused when leaving him to die on Zorya. "Surprised."

Shepard was unfazed by his appearance. "I should have shot you myself. I do enjoy the make over though." Shepard replied. Zaheed raised his assault rifle, firing a round past Shepard's head. "Getting near sighted, old man? "

"I've gotta ask though, Messani. Why team with a bunch fourth rate mercenaries like Tomb's?" Shepard questioned. Zaheed stood above him, aiming down at the spectre.

"I knew where to find this place, Tomb's had the bodies and once I found Miranda here I knew you'd come running for her." He answered, his voice sounding more like a growl. "I'll have to let Jack know how much I appreciate her letting me borrow that Cerberus intell."

So this was the merc band Jack mentioned. Shepard thought. "So what happens now? You kill her in front of me, to make me suffer? Both of us? Me in front of her?" Shepard listed.

Zaheed had a sinister smirk form in the corner of his mouth. "I was thinking I take out your biotic amp, break your arms and legs, while you watch me and Miranda get reacquainted. Then I kill her in front of you."

Shepard pointed past Zaheed. "Good luck."

A blue aura could be seen emanating from behind the mercenary. "Oh Shit!" Zaheed shot into the air, slamming into the ceiling and back to the ground.

Miranda was able to just barely stand, her knees shook and she began to wobble. Shepard picked himself up and caught the Cerberus agent. "Miranda are you all right?"

"I told you not to come." She winced in pain, her face looking tired.

Shepard smiled at the Cerberus agent. "You know me."

Shepard looked over to Zaheed, he was beginning to stir back to his feet. "Sit tight for just a minute." Shepard gently placed Miranda on her back. He marched over to the mercenary. Zaheed crawled to his rifle, he reached his hand out. Shepard kicked it aside.

"I see when you get older you get chatty." Shepard said, his pistol drawn on the mercenary. "And at this moment this is me, holding a gun over your head."

"Screw you Shepard!"

"And this is you." Shepard fired, hitting Zaheed in the back of his hand. "Still talking." Shepard planted a boot on the side of Zaheed's head. He holstered his pistol.

"Look at you old man." Shepard helped him back to his feet. "Show me what you've got." Zaheed charged the spectre tackling him to the floor. He lands a punch to the jaw, he raises his fist for another strike as Shepard counters with a headbutt, a satisfying crack could be heard when he connected. A stunned Zaheed backed off. Shepard scrambles to his feet. Zaheed swings at Shepard. He evades it, locking the mercs arm into place and twisting it back. Breaking it. Shepard stomps on the back of Zaheed's leg, dropping him onto one knee. Shepard's knee rose, slamming into Zaheed's face. His head snapped back, smacking the hard metal floor.

Shepard stood over the veteran. "That was round two."

Zaheed spat out blood. "Go to hell!"

Shepard dropped a disk shaped object on top of the Mercenary. "You first." He whispered as he walked away. The disk exploded, bursting the mercenary into flames. Shepard walked back to Miranda, picking her up and carrying her in his arms. He walked out of the base with out saying a word, the curses of a burning man echoing behind him.

Minuteman Station,

Miranda's office, hours later:

Velentrian arrived too late. He had hoped Shepard would be here, but apparently he was late to the party. Every one was dead. Even the Cerberus crew, which surprised the spectre. His goal was to uncover Shepard double dealing with Cerberus or even a Cerberus plot to attack the council. He found nothing, nothing remotely close enough to aid him in his campaign against the first human spectre.

"Damn you human!" He growled, stepping over a charred corpse of one the many dead mercs. He walked to the corner of the room, where a computer terminal stood. He logged in with his omni tool. Who ever used it last didn't log off and was open for anyone to use. He couldn't find anything overtly incriminating here either. Not even any locations of Cerberus bases.

"Ah ha!" He found some thing. A file containing something called The New Project. "What do we have here?" He opened it. Information about a secret prothean facility on Caleston. It didn't give any details but it gave coordinates and names. One of those being the name of former human councilor David Anderson.

"This can't be a coincidence." He kept reading. The names of several high ranking Alliance admirals had their names on the project as well. Even the name of a spectre. "Not the one I wanted, but she'll do until I can find something on Shepard."

As he kept reading he saw several references to husks, collectors and Reapers. "They must be related some how!" He exclaimed. "And the humans are behind it all!" He had made up his mind right then. He would go to this project base and stop this human plot once and for all.