Jade had nearly given up her struggle against unconsciousness and the other woman when a shadow, somehow more tangible than the others that crowded her vision, rose up behind the Phantom and deftly snapped her head around. Her neck broke with a wet crunch of finality and the shadow flitted away. Jade collapsed, chest heaving with the effort of not passing out, and prayed the damn medi-gel kicked in soon. She felt the cool rush as the gel went to work sealing the wound.
Shit! That's gonna seal the … She reached up and grabbed the blade and groaned. The gel had done its job too well. It had sealed the blade into the wound. This is going to hurt. She programmed her omni-tool to produce a short, thin omni-blade and, before she could stop to think about what she was doing, or even if it would work, brought it down across the sword embedded in her flesh. She couldn't tell if the shriek at that moment came from her own throat or the shattering steel.
Jade stumbled to her feet, pistol drawn in a shaky, one-handed grip and looked for Javik. He was across the square, battling five soldiers and pinned down by sniper fire. His mouth was drawn into a thin line of concentration as he fought, but his yellow eyes went wide when he saw her rise from the rubble that had hidden her. She stood, trying to shake the mist from her eyes, as the shadow that had saved her engaged Cerberus forces near Javik. The whine of a Nemesis scope had Jade dropping back down behind her rubble and expanding her Widow. She braced the weapon against her cover and looked for the tell-tale crimson beam that would expose the sniper.
Gotcha, you sack of shit. Jade's finger tightened on the trigger and her enemy's head disappeared in a haze of bone and blood. Jade howled as the rifle's wicked recoil tore her wound open again and drove the shard of steel even deeper. Javik was at her side in a flash, administering more medi-gel to stem the resurgent tide of blood.
"Fool!" He ground out as he triggered her armor's manual release to check the wound more closely. "Did you think I could not handle myself against a single Cerberus sniper?"
Jade chuckled weakly then winced as his fingers probed against the broken sword. "I figured you and Mister Shadow there had your hands full."
"Not as full as all that," the newcomer said, crouching beside Javik. "We will need to remove the steel from her shoulder before continuing. The wound will not close properly if we do not."
"I was afraid you were going to say that." Jade sighed. "Fine, get me something to MOTHERFUCKER!"
Javik held the six inches of blade he'd yanked from her body up for her to see before throwing it to the ground and triggering another rush of medi-gel to the area.
"You could have given me little warning, four-eyes." Jade panted. She sat up and gingerly rotated her wounded shoulder. She winced when it pulled, but the gel had done its work.
"And what use would that have been?" Javik asked handing her the armor he had stripped off to get at her wound. "You would have tensed in anticipation and the damage would be worse."
"Shut up."
"If you are recovered, I believe we should make our way to the embassies." He stood to one side with the posture Jade had come to associate with all assassins. It was fundamentally different from a sniper's, though they shared many traits. Limbs loose and ready, and those dark, wary eyes had clocked all the exits, not only as a avenue of escape for a target, but for himself as well. This was a man used to getting his hands dirty, not simply delivering death from a quarter-mile away. He had killed the Phantom with his bare hands, and Jade saw no trace of a weapon on him now, those leathers left nothing to the imagination.
"I take it you're Krios?" Jade said, grunting as Javik hauled her to her feet. At his nod, she continued. "Shepard said we might run into you out here. Thanks for saving my ass."
"It is nothing." His words had a hollow, rasping quality that Jade didn't think was entirely attributed to his alien physiology. "We should move."
"Agreed." Javik was already on his way out of the square.
Jade threw Thane her pistol. "Here, I don't use the damn thing if I can avoid it. You look like you've probably been handling weapons since the cradle, so it might as well see some use."
His lips quirked in a nearly imperceptible smile and they took off after Javik. They fell into that easy, ground-eating lope soldiers everywhere were capable of, even when burdened with kilos of armor, weapons and ammo. They blazed through several more waves of Cerberus troops before they made it to the Embassies. They'd been receiving sporadic updates from the other teams. EDI and James had run into major opposition on the docks and were still less than half-way to their goal.
/Harmon, you there? /
Garrus' voice over the comm was flat and tinny without his usual flanging inflection.
"Yeah, what's up?"
/We made it to the Salarian Embassy, but there's no sign of the councilor. How close are you? /
"Close," She picked up her speed a little and the others followed suit, listening in silently to the exchange. "ETA, roughly two minutes."
/Good, we'll keep looking, we think he might be hiding. Shit!/
"Garrus! What is it?" She picked up her pace even further. The drell seemed to be having difficulties, but managed to keep pace with the other two as they raced for the building ahead. "Garrus! Damnit!"
Jade's world narrowed to getting to where she was needed as fast as possible. Miraculously, there were no more waves of Cerberus troopers to fight through. Must've finally entered into the area Shep and her team cleared. Jade thought dimly as she pelted through cubicles and vaulted desks. Good thing, cuz we'd be smears on the wall if there was someone waiting for us.
Finally, they reached the Salarian Embassy, Javik's omi-tool pinging an alert as they entered. Jade could hear raised voices, but couldn't make out the words.
"Krios, can you hear anything?" Jade turned to the assassin only to find he had vanished some point after they entered the complex. "Fuck, don't trust an assassin to stick around where you can see him." She muttered under her breath as she followed Javik through a side entrance.
Javik suddenly stopped, turned and pressed Jade into the wall, a finger over his lips. He glanced around the corner then drew back and gestured for her to take a look. Jade froze in shock at the tableaux before her.
Fuck, I hate walking into a hostage situation with no warning. A man with very obvious cybernetic "upgrades" was holding a hooded salarian at what looked like repulsor point. Shepard was apparently trying to get him to back down but Jade didn't think that was going to work. I've seen the movies, I know how much damage one of those things can do at point blank range. Christ, Shep, I hope you can pull this one off.
It changed in an instant. Krios stalked in behind the would-be assassin and brought his weapon to bear on the man's head. What happened next was nothing more than a blur of limbs and blows. With the tension broken and the Cerberus flunky's attention on the drell, Jade and Javik entered the room looking for any way to turn the fight to their advantage.
When the operative disappeared, they joined the others, eyes open and weapons ready. Krios' chest was heaving, his lips parted, trying to draw in as much air as possible. Jade noticed, as they traded nods, that his eyes were constricted considerably more than they had been on the Presidium proper, and his hands had developed a fine tremor. Damn, if I didn't know better, I'd say he was hypoxic.
The air behind Krios shimmered a moment.
"Krios! Behind you!" Jade threw herself to the side as Liara and Garrus covered the councilor. "Let's see how well you dodge crossfire you squirrely bastard." Jade muttered as they opened fire on the operative. But his shields and barriers shrugged their fire off like it didn't exist, and he rushed the drell, sword drawn.
What is it with these people and edged weapons? She maneuvered for a better shot, but the combatants were too close. A biotic blast from Krios separated them for a moment and Jade leapt onto a table for a better shot. She fired until the heatsink glowed white and cursed her preference for semi-automatic rifles when a full auto may have stopped the monster. As it was he didn't even take note of the withering fire she and Javik and the drell threw in his direction. He rushed again.
Jade heard Shepard's gasp and saw Krios fall, but the Cerberus operative was already moving. She slammed a fresh sink home and scrambled after him, Javik and Shepard hot on her heels. She felt the burn of projectiles past her ears and took a knee in the middle of the hall, still firing at the operative's retreating back.
"Coward!" She screamed after him as he vaulted onto the roof of a skycar. Shepard surged past with Javik hard on her six. Krios limped heavily past, shaking Jade from her narrow focus. She caught him as he fell against the door and eased him to a seated position against the frame. Shepard was shaking with rage as she stalked back from the edge of the sidewalk.
"Thane," her voice was rough, whether from screaming profanities at the operative or a deeper emotion, Jade wasn't sure. She reached out to cup one green-scaled cheek. "I'm so sorry."
"I have time, Shepard," Krios' own voice was husky with suppressed pain. "Catch him."
Shepard hesitated a moment, and Garrus and Liara raced through the door with the salarian councilor. She dropped her hand from Thane's face and stood, looking torn.
"We've got them Shepard," Jade said. "You get the son of a bitch, we'll make sure Krios gets medical attention. GO!"
Finally Shepard's face hardened and she turned, calling for Bailey over the comm as she went.
"You're going to be just fine, Krios," Jade cursed as she realized her earlier brush with death had left them dangerously short of medi-gel. With one final look back at the huddle around the door, Shepard climbed into a C-Sec cruiser and tore off in pursuit of the other car.
Author's Note: This concludes chapters I've already completed for this fic. Further updates here will be concurrent with the other places this fic is posted, including the KMeme. I usually update every two to three weeks, depending on what life has in store for me. Thank you in advance for your patience.
Also! I've got some plans for this story but I'd like to bounce them off someone, so if any of you readers are interested in Betaing for me, drop me a line via PM.
Thanks,
WL