"So," Michael said as Shepard and Haku left the ship, armed to the teeth. "What's the plan?"
Shepard walked to a flimsy shutter made to hold off attackers while the alarm sounded, slapping a circular object on it. "Kill or be killed." Shepard said, taking a few steps back. He shot an alarm, the red lights annoying him.
"You haven't made any better plans?" Haku asked.
"I haven't made any plans." Shepard said, and closed his eyes. Then, he activated the explosives. The shutter exploded, and Shepard charged forward.
The room consisted of cover that, while working for both sides, wouldn't help the attackers, a sniper on a bridge extending from one side to the next positioned perfectly. The Cerberus Operatives, however, hadn't been expecting an explosion, and had flinched.
Shepard ran through the still-burning metal, and with several shots from his assault rifle the sniper fell, his bones cracking on the hard floor.
"Cover!" Shepard said, and his ragtag team ran to cover, sliding behind the steel boxes. Haku was a little out-of-practice, but still kept up with Michael.
'Is that a compliment to her or an insult to me?' Michael wondered, then came back to reality when a bullet clipped his shields.
"Down!" Haku said, pulling him behind the crates. "Don't be stupid!"
"Harder said than done." Michael said, finding Haku a bit scary.
Shepard took a deep breath, then jumped from cover, the adrenaline allowing him to move quickly. He took the other two soldiers out, then scanned the room. But Shepard missed a human, and took five quick shots before Haku killed the Operative.
Shepard fell to his knees, the bells finally fading from his ears in the explosion. 'They can fix hearing now, right?' Shepard wondered, standing and feeling fire on his back. 'That would be the gunshot.'
"Keep going." Shepard grunted to himself.
"Shep, you're bleeding a lot!" Haku said.
"Keep going." Shepard repeated, cold eyes on his team. "Search everywhere. Any files go straight to the ship." Shepard took another step forward when he heard a single beep. His mind flashed through his time working with Cerberus, and he remembered something. "Out!" Shepard yelled, pushing the team forward. "Get out!"
Cerberus, Shepard remembered, blew up their space stations. And Aria couldn't be trusted, meaning that Illusive Man might have 'found out' their destination and that beep probably wasn't anything good.
Shepard jumped in the pilot seat, causing the cheap ship to go faster than it was accustomed to.
"Shep, what the hell-" Michael began, but noted how angry and tense Shepard was, and decided silence would benefit his life span.
Seconds later the station exploded, rocking the ship.
"Damn it!" Shepard roared, moving from the captain's chair and letting Michael take the reins of the ship once more.
"What just happened?" Haku asked.
Shepard calmed himself down by thinking of things he would do to the Illusive Man and said "Remote explosive. I heard the activation process beginning. It takes a while to ready the amount of explosives needed for destruction for that large of a station." Shepard put his head in his hands, sitting in a lounge chair where the crew ate. Or, rather, the others ate. Shepard was not seen eating, too busy doing research, or keeping up with his other contacts. "Always one step ahead."
"Maybe we need to go on a vacation." Haku suggested. "The Citadel's nice this time of year."
"The Citadel never changes." Michael noted dryly.
Haku socked him in the arm. "How 'bout it, Shep?"
"I have nothing else to go on." Shepard said.
'I guess that's the closest to a 'yes' I'll get.' Haku thought, but kept up a 'It'll-all-be-okay' smile.
"To the Citadel." Haku said.
"Yes ma'am." Michael said, and Shepard remembered a moment with Joker aboard the Normandy.
"You're not really with the Ice Queen, are you? I mean, I'd go after Tali, myself. You can't see her emotions but you know they're there." Joker said.
"You could've at least waited until I said 'hi'," Shepard said, smiling.
"Well, beating around the bush isn't one of my strong points, Shep." Joker said.
"I know." Shepard said. "But you should at least see who's behind me."
"Did you say I was an 'Ice Queen'?" Miranda asked, her beauty seemingly lighting the cockpit. Or maybe that was her anger.
"No ma'am." Joker said, sitting up straight and looking all-business.
"Good." Miranda said.
As soon as Joker and Shepard couldn't hear Miranda's heels, they broke out laughing.
"Are you crying?" Michael asked.
Shepard moved his hands, looking at Michael. If anything, Shepard looked angrier than before.
"Just the lighting." Haku said, not wanting her first friend- other than Shepard -in years to die.
"The lighting." Michael agreed.