Shepard quietly exited the shuttle and hurried forward to take cover behind a nearby wall. Peering out around the edge of the doorway, she listened intently for any sign that she'd been spotted. In the continued silence, finally convinced that their presence was a secret, she motioned for the rest of the squad to join her; one by one, they followed.
Things had looked bad flying in; the Presidium was crawling with Cerberus. C-Sec headquarters would be the best place to mount a defense, but they'd only been able to get so close in the shuttle. They'd have to fight the rest of the way there. That said, looking at her team, she didn't think that would be much of a problem.
"Well, we've got the element of surprise, but we won't have it for long. I'd estimate they've got at least twenty troops in there. Garrus, Kirrahe, you've both got range, go in first but stay back and out of sight. Try to take out their snipers. At the count of five, the rest of us will head in and take the center. Ready?" They all nodded. "Go!" Kirrahe and Garrus raced in while Shepard counted. "...three... four... FIVE! GO!"
Her two snipers were already hard at work, even stripping shields in between shots. Good, anything to take the bastards down a little quicker. She Charged the nearest group of Cerberus troops, finishing any that were still standing with a blast from her shotgun. She heard a loud blast and a war-whoop to her left as James took out another group with a set of explosive rounds. She looked ahead of her to see a pair of Cerberus guardians approaching them. Damn, those shields pissed her off.
"Liara, paint me a target," she said, pointing at the guardians. Shepard smiled as the Singularity materialized between them. She lifted her arm and pulled it back, Charging at the center of the Singularity. For a moment, she saw white; then slowly everything returned to normal.
"That's all of them, Shepard," Garrus shouted as she took a moment to catch her breath. Her innate barrier kept her protected from the explosion of biotic energy that had taken out the guardians, but the maneuver always managed to knock the wind out of her. As her breathing finally steadied, she hurried up the stairs at the end of the room.
"Bailey, are you all right?" she asked, crouching beside the C-Sec commander. He'd been shot; he was clutching the wound and his breathing was shallow.
"I'll manage," he groaned as he struggled to stand.
Shepard shook her head. "You're injured. Stay put." Before he could protest, she added, "At least let me put some medigel on it. What the hell happened here?" she continued as she fell into the familiar ritual of battlefield first aid.
"Took a bullet trying to get back into headquarters. Cerberus took it in the first push. I'll know more once we're inside." As the medigel sealed the wound, Shepard saw the color start to return to Bailey's face. He stood and punched in the code to open the door. Inside, he seated himself and the main terminal and set to work. "Need to set up a private comm channel. They took over our existing ones; we're flying blind out there... here we go." He transmitted the frequency to them and Shepard's earpiece came alive with chatter. She quickly lowered the volume.
"What about the council?" Kirrahe asked.
"Last I heard they were splitting up," replied Bailey. "As for now- hm, what's this? Looks like Councilor Esheel was supposed to meet with the Executor this morning. I'd say something big was about to go down."
"Esheel," Garrus mused, "she had mentioned Udina, but... "
"Bastard!" Shepard said through clenched teeth. "Still, I'd have never guessed he'd go this far. He has to know..." But of course that hadn't meant much so far. Udina, the Illusive Man, the Dalatrass, they knew by now the threat the Reapers posed. Yet they were still caught up in their own personal issues, refusing to see the big picture. Shepard sighed. Maybe we deserve to be wiped out, she considered cynically.
"I'd head for the executor's office if I were you," Bailey said. "You might still find them there if you hurry."
Shepard nodded. "Let's go."
Shepard looked out through the window of the Executor's office, scanning the plaza below for any sign of the Salarian councilor. Out of the corner of her eye she caught the shimmer of a tactical cloak disengaging. She turned toward it to see the Salarian councilor standing from behind a desk.
"I found her," she commed to Bailey. "She appears to be unharmed...wait." Another figure approached the Salarian from behind. "Shit!" There was no time to waste; she fired two shots at the window, shattering the glass, and jumped down to the lower level. "Hold it right there," she commanded the assassin.
"Shepard," said the councilor, "he's going to kill us all. Udina's with the other councilor's. He's going to hand them over to Cerberus."
Shepard shook her head. "We'll see about that." She turned to address the assassin. "It's five-to-one. You're outnumbered. It's over."
"No," he hissed. "Now it's fun."
The space around it began to crackle and glow as energy built up around his outstretched hand. Biotic? Yeah, well, you're still outnumbered. She was moving closer to the councilor to try to put up a barrier when she heard the sound of footsteps running toward them. She looked up to see Thane Krios drawing a pistol. The human assassin immediately turned his attention to the Drell.
Shepard raised her pistol, trying to line up a shot through the scope, but they were moving to quickly, and Thane was too close. Damn! She was about to turn her attention back to the councilor when the assassin drew a sword. She blinked. Really?
"You have got to be shittin' me." Hearing Vega echo her thought finally drew her away from the fight. Scanning the room, though, she saw no sign of the councilor. As she noticed that Kirrahe was missing as well, she heard his voice in her ear.
"Shepard, I have the councilor. We're on our way to meet up with Commander Bailey."
"Acknowledged." She commed Bailey to inform him of the fact, then looked back up, as the assassin thrust his sword into Thane's gut. She chased him as he ran, shooting wildly, but he had boarded a waiting taxi before she could get close. She turned to see Thane behind her, struggling to remain upright, his own gun still pointed at the assassin.
"Sorry... Shepard."
"Thane," she knelt beside him as he slid to the floor. Damnit! She needed to stop the assassin before he could get to the rest of the council, but...
"I'll stay with him," said Liara, settling down beside them. "Go."
THUNK! Something had hit the top of the elevator car just above Kaidan's head, and he willed it to go faster. He'd been so worried about whether they'd have a clear shot to the shuttle from the elevator that he hadn't considered that Cerberus might catch up from the other side. Now for all he knew they were about to come in on top of them. And right now he was a sitting duck.
Finally the doors slid open. He motioned the councilors to exit in front of him, then took one more look above before following at a run. The threat from behind hadn't materialized, the way ahead looked clear, they were almost home free... He saw the smoke first. The shuttle was in flames. "Damnit!" He took just a moment to consider his options. They were cut off if they stayed here. They really only had one chance. "Okay, everyone, back to the elevator." He turned back around in time to see Shepard burst through the door and seal it behind her.
She raised her gun and pointed it at- no, past him. One escape route was destroyed, the other cut off, and the woman he loved stood between him and his duty. This couldn't be happening, he tried to convince himself. There had to be an explanation. "Shepard, what's going on?"
"She's trying to block our escape," said Udina. "She's with Cerberus." No, she couldn't be. She'd left them after the Collectors were destroyed. She said she'd had no contact. She wouldn't do this. Would she?
"He's lying, Kaidan. I can explain this."
"Can you? Because it doesn't look too good from where I'm standing." He only hoped that she could, that somehow this was all a misunderstanding. Because if he'd been wrong about her again, if he ended up having to do the unthinkable and take her out, he wasn't sure if he'd even be able to trust himself ever again.
"Kaidan," she said, "I don't have time to argue with you. There are Cerberus soldiers in the elevator shaft behind me. If you open that door they'll kill us all."
"Don't listen to her, Major. She's indoctrinated. Isn't it obvious? It's what the Reapers do. Find someone trusted, respected, loved. And then count on people's loyalties to protect them. She'd be their ideal candidate."
As he spoke, Shepard lowered her weapon, and for the first time since she'd stepped off the elevator, he saw the fear in her eyes. Not the fear of discovery, but the same fear he'd seen in Rahna's eyes almost twenty years ago. The fear of being unable to trust the person she most depended on, the fear of having nowhere else to turn. "Please, Kaidan. It's me. You know it's me."
He did know. He'd known it from the softness of her lips on mars, the gentle touch of her hand in the hospital, the strength and determination in her gaze even now. But Udina still tried to convince him otherwise. "This is ridiculous," he said, approaching the remote console next to the shuttle. "That's what they do, Major. They'll say anything-"
"Yes," Kaidan said, turning to aim his pistol at the councilor. "They will. Step away from the console, now."
"To hell with this." Udina continued to punch in an override sequence. Kaidan began to move closer, but the Asari councilor got there first. She tried to move him away, but he shoved her to the ground and pointed a gun at her as he turned back to the console. It was too late to try anything else. Instinctively, Kaidan pulled the trigger.
A single shot dropped Udina to the ground as time suddenly returned to normal. He wondered if there had been any sign, anything he might have picked up on. After all, if Shepard had been... no, he wasn't ready to go down that road. Not now. Shepard was clearly still rattled; she'd nearly gone limp from relief. He tried to go to her, but stopped as he heard something cutting through the elevator door. They all pointed their weapons at the door as it was forced open. "Bailey," Shepard managed the greeting before Kaidan could.
"We took out the Cerberus troops in the elevator shaft behind you. The rest seem to be running scared."
"And the assassin?" Shepard was all business again. Kaidan couldn't help but admire how quickly she managed to shift her emotional state, how she could just push aside the pain and fear and be Commander Shepard again. He found himself envying her right now; he was still shaken. He waited for Shepard to finish her briefing with Bailey, but her hand immediately went to her ear as her comm lit up. "They did?" she murmured, nodding. "Does his son know? Okay... yeah." She took a deep breath and looked up, trying to avoid his eyes.
He wasn't going to let her. He'd had it with this forced distance between them. Yes, things had gotten... tense on Horizon. And they'd both let them stay that way; even when she'd visited him in the hospital and they'd tried to let things go back to normal, they'd had a wariness about each other, both of them unsure where they should pick up. But long before that there had been just the two of them, chasing after Saren and finding what comfort they could in each other along the way.
And if that was all they had left, well, as long as they did still have that, it would be enough. So he approached her. "Shepard, what is it?'
She spoke quickly. "Thane. He was injured protecting Councilor Esheel. There's... He's in bad shape."
There was no way that he could keep her there, now. They'd have to talk later. "I'll take care of this." He nodded toward Udina's body behind him. "Go on."