"Get down!" Zaeed was tackled to the side by a cloaked figure, the missile passing him harmlessly exploding as it hit the wall. He shook his head in an attempt to relieve the ringing in his ears as he looked up at the invisible figure on top of him which quickly uncloaked to reveal Kasumi.

"What the hell are you doing in my room!" he yelled. Kasumi's smirk quickly turned to a frown.

"Your welcome." She replied sarcastically. Both turned to the hole in the wall where the missile had hit to see a bright glow emanating from it. A powerful biotic blast wave ripped outward from the hole, completely disintegrating the rest of the wall and Samara walked slowly through it into the room staring at the gunship angrily. The gunship raised its twin cannons and prepared to unleash a storm of lasers on her.

"Take this!" the batarian pilot shouted. The twin chain guns opened fire but Samara was quick to think. She slapped her palms together and extended them outwards, erecting a biotic barrier around them; blocking the swarm of shells as they rippled on impact.

"Dammit!" The pilot cried. "Marauders, prepare for insertion!" The gunship ascended out of sight and its rear hatch opened allowing a squad of Blue Suns troopers to repel down through the window. Zaeed managed managed to pick off one with a shot to heart before he swung into the building and another got a special surprise from Samara's biotic throw, sending him falling to his death.

"We need to find cover!" Zaeed shouted. Samara covered their retreat into the hallway with a biotic barrier. Unfortunately they were met with the sight of a squad of Eclipse mercenaries at the end of the corridor. A large dining cart happened to sit next to the door. Zaeed grabbed it and tipped it over to use for cover as the mercs began to fire mercilessly, pinning them down. All the they could do at that moment was take quick pot shots and hope to hit something.

"We're out numbered Zaeed, we can't stay here!" Kasumi shouted.

"You got any bright ideas? Now's the time!" Zaeed replied.

"I believe I have one." Samara stood up and threw a singularity into the group of mercs, temporarily immobilizing them. "Lets go!" The three turned to run for the stairs as Miranda, Jacob, Thane, and Jack all stormed out of their rooms with their weapons loaded.

"What's going on?" asked Miranda.

"Tell you later." Kasumi replied. "We need to get to the roof! There might still be a hover car or two we can use!" The group ran to the end of the hallway opposite of the mercenaries still being thrown around by the singularity. Miranda halted at the elevator doors but saw that the lights on the controls were glowing red, indicating that they were inoperable.

"The stairs!" Miranda shouted. They followed her through the next door and proceeded to climb the stairs all the way up to the roof. They managed to climb 3 stories before gunfire began to rain down on them as another squad of Blue Suns had taken position a few floors above them, blocking there escape route. Shots hit all around them, forcing them to take cover against the walls of the staircase. The Eclipse mercs had already managed to break free of Samara's singularity and were a couple of stories below also firing bursts of lasers from their weapons. They were completely cut off!

"What now Cheerleader!" Jack yelled turning to Miranda who seemed stumped for ideas. The Cerberus operative looked over her team and finally came up with a plan.

"Kasumi, flash-bang! Jack, Thane, on my mark." Kasumi primed a flash grenade on her order and Jack knelt down with her hands on the ground. Thane placed his feet lightly in her open hands.

"Now!" The master thief tossed the already cooked flash grenade up toward the group of mercs which burst in mid air, temporarily blinding them.

"Jack!" Miranda shouted. Jack's body glowed with biotic energy and with all her strength she threw Thane upwards. The Drell assassin landed a few stories up on the stair case. He grabbed the Blue Suns trooper in front of him by the neck, tossed him over the railing, pulled out his pistol and made a precise head shot on the next two, then jabbed the fourth one in the throat causing him to fall to the ground, and broke his neck using his foot. The remaining were met with a quick death by head shots from Thane's pistol. Thane leaned over the railing and motioned for the team to continue to climb. Jacob headed up the rear distracting the mercs below with blind shots from his shotgun.

Aranya activated her comm link. "There heading for the roof, be ready!" On the roof stood a squad of Blue Suns mercs. The lead turian motioned for his men to take position around the door and two of the mercs proceeded to sidle side of the door whiletwo others stood in front of it with weapons primed. There was silence for a while as they listened to the muffled sound of footsteps coming closer. The two humans in front of the door steadied their aim and waited when suddenly they heard a beeping sound coming from the other side the door. The two mercs looked at each other expectantly.

"Oh shi-" The lead merc was knocked off his feet when the door suddenly exploded, he shrapnel killing his men. Zaeed emerged from the smoke and killed him with a quick burst of his battle rifle with the rest of the team following behind shortly after. They had finally reached the roof of the hotel. Unfortunately no hover cars were in sight. The mercs had prepared for this! A gunship appeared seemingly from out of no where from the side of the building and the team reacted instantly by spreading out and taking cover behind a series of crates. The aircraft opened fire with its chain guns followed by a couple of blindly fired missiles. The team fired back but did little damage against its durable shielding.

"I've got this!" Kasumi leaped out of cover and performed a series of acrobatic flips and jumps, dodging the gunships fire. She ran to the edge and heroically leaped off the edge of the building, barely managing to land on the glass windshield of the gunship.

"Dammit!" The batarian pilot yelled. "Get her off me!" Kasumi crawled up the cockpit and onto the tail of the aircraft as the rear hatch opened and a turian leaned out to take aim with his rifle. Before he could even get a single shot off, she planted both hands on the fin of the tail and swung herself into the rear hatch, knocking the turian off his feet as she flew in. She easily killed him with a couple of shots to the chest with her Locust SMG and then ran up the cockpit. The pilot struggled as she grabbed his head and proceeded to snap his neck like a twig. She then threw his limp body aside and took over the piloting controls. Noticing this, the rest of the team rose out from cover a cheered triumphantly. The master thief slowly descended the ship toward the roof and hovered just inches off the ground. The team began running into the rear hatch with Zaeed being the last to retreat, keeping his rifle aimed at the door behind them. He spun around and began sprinting for the gunship but he didn't get far when two shells pierced through his shoulder and upper arm. He fell to the ground clutching his wounded shoulder as the remaining Eclipse mercenaries emerged from the door, two of which were armed with rocket launchers and began firing at the gunship.

Zaeed gazed up at the still open hatch of the gunship to see Jacob watching helplessly. "Get out of here! GO!" He called out. Rockets pounded on the shield of the aircraft leaving Kasumi with no choice but to close the hatch and leave, lest they all perish in the process of aiding their bounty hunter comrade.

"What are you doing! Turn the ship around!" Jacob yelled from the back of the ship. Miranda restrained him.

"If we don't leave right now we're all dead, Jacob!"

...

Zaeed smiled as he watched the ship disappear from sight. Eclipse mercenaries walked up behind him and held him at gunpoint. Aranya walked through the center of the squad of mercs and stared down at him.

"You!" Zaeed whispered angrily. Aranya averted her eyes.

"Secure the prisoner for transport. Inform Santiago that the targets escaped..." She paused. "And that Zaeed Massani was killed in the firefight.

"Ma'am?" An Asari commando questioned from behind her.

"Do it!" Aranya snapped. She motioned to the troops holding him at gunpoint and they picked him up and begun to haul him away. She didn't move from her spot as she continued to avert her gaze from him.

"Damn..."

...

Garrus stood in port observation as they came out of FTL with the Citadel in sight. He still didn't fully understand Tali's intentions for bringing them there, but in the past he had learned to trust her judgment, especially this time since it involved Shepard's well being. He took a moment to admire the layout of the Citadel. The massive space station, for a Reaper design, was still quite marvelous. Turian cruisers flew around its open arms on constant patrol with The Asari dreadnaught, the Destiny Ascension, cruising just above the top arm of the citadel like a guardian angel keeping watch over its children. He signed and dropped his head. His mind was clouded by doubt. Life never seemed to get any better for him, Shepard, or the crew. There was always some new enemy to fight or a tragedy to bring their spirits down.

"Garrus..." he heard a faint whisper, the voice was unrecognizable. He spun around and looked around the room.

"Shepard?" he called out. No one responded. "Tali?" still, the room remained empty. The sound of glass shattering over by the minibar on right side of the room caused his heart to skip a beat. He glanced over at it and noticed that a glass had seemingly, on its own, fallen off the counter onto the floor, so he walked over to it to investigate.

"Real cute, Tali. Knock it off..." no one replied. He stopped a few feet from the broken glass on the floor and for a moment looked around the counter to find the culprit but there was no one there. He suddenly felt a cold draft behind him, feeling a presence that could only be described as...evil. He spun around quickly and was thrown into a state of complete terror as he gazed upon the looming form of Saren Arterius, the rogue Spectre they had killed two years earlier.

"You! Your're...you're dead!" Garrus stammered. The horrid figure began to step forward. Garrus backed away from him slowly, feeling the shards of broken glass beneath his feet. He could back up no further when he felt the counter of the minibar against his back. His mandibles flexed wide in fear as Saren raised his arm and stretched out his hand. The three talons on his claw suddenly glowed with a red aura and grew a few inches longer before his very eyes. Saren didn't speak as he cocked his arm back and prepared to strike. Garrus leaned back against the counter preparing for the inevitable blow, feeling the adrenaline run wild in his veins. He braced himself as Saren threw his claw forward at his face and shut his eyes as he shielded his face and screamed in terror. Surprised to not feel any form pain, he opened his eyes to see that Saren was gone. There was no trace of him! He looked around the room but saw nothing so he turned around to look behind the counter; still nothing.

"What... what the..." He mumbled to himself. EDI chimed in with an unusual amount of concern in her artificial voice.

"Are you alright, Mister Vakarian?" Garrus stood silent for a few seconds.

"Yeah... yeah, I just need to get some air." He turned to leave the room with his heart still beating rapidly.

"Must be losing it..."