Chapter Five
Amaranthine, Fortuna cluster, Horse Head Nebula System
Kodiak Shuttle, 2208h
The hum of the shuttle was the only thing any of the six team mates could hear for the first ten minutes after Cortez deployed from the Normandy's hangar bay doors. Conversation was very sparse as each squad member checked his or her ammunition or guns more than a few times. Shepard secured his sentry visor over his eyes and arose from his seat next to Miranda. "All right, Williams, Cortez will drop the three of us first at the back and then your team at the front. Give us a few minutes to dismantle security measures and wait for my go on coms, okay?" Shepard ordered her.
"You got it, Commander. We'll wait until we hear some alarms go off and then head in, guns blazing like the wrath of God," she nodded and secured her helmet to her head. "And Shepard, no matter what happens…God be with you."
He opened the hatch as Cortez rounded the base's corner and drifted closely to a walkway that lead into the facility. "And also with you," he whispered. In a much louder voice, he extended his arm towards the base. "All right, ladies, after you."
"Your chivalry, although appreciated, is hardly applicable here, Shepard," Miranda rolled her eyes and hopped onto the platform. Liara followed her, and Shepard took the lead after pulling out his silenced pistol. After he checked the area for automated turrets, he gestured for his teammates to accompany him to the back door.
"Miranda, if you'd do the honors, please," he pointed to the lock. "Liara and I will cover you."
"Right," the Aussie nodded and activated her omni-tool to assimilate her task. "Ah, this looks like an older system; it's probably got outdated software." She began to bypass the circuit boards but then suddenly stopped as she got to the second set. She turned to face Shepard.
"What's wrong?"
"Shepard, I'm having second thoughts about our mission. Did Hackett give you any intel about this place specifically, like the number of scientists to expect as well as soldiers?"
"No, he didn't, but those numbers can change within the hour," Shepard shrugged.
"That's a given, yes, but why didn't Hackett give you a means to communicate with Banes? He was obviously able to get a message out to Alliance Command, wasn't he?"
"Well, Banes is in a desperate situation right now and can probably only communicate at intervals. And we'd better get moving before Vega does something rash. He gets impatient way too fast, even faster than I." He pointed his index finger towards the front entrance.
Miranda's hand went to her hip. "Shepard, if you believe that Lt. Commander Williams is able to command a squad, then you should trust that she can hold back that simpleton from doing something reckless."
"I agree with Miranda, Shepard," Liara nodded and relaxed her stance as she pointed her gun at the ground. "Something doesn't feel right about this mission."
"We can't pull out now," he shook his head 'no'. "There are too many lives at stake here."
"Commander, what's your 20?" Ash's voice called to him over the radio.
"Ash, we're in a bit of a debate here. I'm having some second thoughts now…like if we should even go on with this assignment."
Liara holstered her submachine pistol and Shepard did the same with his pistol.
"Didn't Admiral Hackett order us down here for a good reason, Commander? The sooner we do this, the sooner everyone can go home and prepare for the assault on Cerberus HQ, sir," the Alliance soldier remarked. "What're you worried about?"
Shepard then recapitulated both Liara's and Miranda's points of view. Williams listened without making an interruption then finally made her reply when he asked her what she thought that they should do.
"Well, can Lawson get in touch with those Cerberus scientists somehow from inside once you get in the back door? Maybe there's a secret phrase that they know to abort everything and lay low."
"Yes, there are such messages, Williams," Miranda replied. "But if a Cerberus soldier were to even catch a glimpse of one on a terminal or an omni-tool, everything that we're risking here would be for nothing. They'd all start to blow themselves up one by one once they realize that their colleagues are doing it. For all we know, the troopers could have wired every single one of the doors with a bomb, too. That's what made me reconsider my decision with hacking the lock."
Shepard touched his fingers to his earpiece. "EDI, can you do a scan of this place and tell us-"
"Already done, Shepard," the AI answered him. "What Ms. Lawson has hypothesized is unfortunately true. Bombs have been placed at all of the facility's entrances and exits." Miranda shook her head as if to say I knew it.
"Can you tell how many people are in the base?"
"Yes. I am able to detect that there are twenty-seven bodies present. I cannot however confirm how many are armed. There are bodies in the research areas or laboratories that appear to be working on things, though." A few seconds of silence passed between everyone before EDI continued. "Specialist Traynor reports that we have an incoming signal coming from a person claiming to be Armistan Banes."
"Patch him through."
"Very well, Shepard." Seconds later, some static came onto the channel.
"Commander, where the hell are you? The scientists here are deliberately stalling and messing up their research to buy more time for you all," Banes informed them.
"What did Hackett tell you about us?" Shepard queried.
"Why does that matter to you? Look, I knew that the Normandy was coming to bail us all out, and that I'm willing to do whatever the hell is necessary to protect these people so that they can help you wipe out the Reapers." He hesitated before going on as if he were assessing his situation. "I can't talk for much longer, or else I'll be compromised here, Commander."
Miranda suddenly interrupted them all as her fingers touched her own earpiece. "Aries' favor rests with King Priam and the Trojans."
"Who is this?" Banes demanded.
"Aries' favor rests with King Priam and the Trojans," she repeated the sentence more slowly.
Shepard and Liara gave one another uneasy glances as both teams waited for a response from their inside source. The tension that was mounting inside of him was no less dangerous than when the destroyer on Rannoch was firing upon him. He felt everything start to clam up as more time passed on the silent radio channel. What if this was the one mission that went wrong and cost them the war?
"But Athena's rests with Agaememnon and Greece," Banes finally responded.
With a slight nod of assurance to her immediate squad mates, she continued. "It doesn't matter who I am to you. Did you know anything about the charges that have been set upon every single door? And if so, why didn't you tell Alliance Command about them?"
"What? What do you mean?" Before she could respond, he went on. "Look, I can't stay on this channel. I've got to go."
Liara rested her hand upon her chin and then extended her other hand for the elbow to sit upon it as she thought. "Time is running out, Shepard. Either Banes is lying to you, or he's being held against his will. And that could mean that as Lt. Williams feared earlier this evening, that this is indeed a trap to kill you."
You are dust struggling against cosmic wind. It is pointless to resist.
"Shepard?" Liara's voice called to him, as he seemed to be staring off into space.
"Hmm." He leaned his head back and rolled his shoulders around. "EDI, can you tell how many of the people inside the complex are sweating or have extremely high body temperatures?" Shepard wondered.
"You think that Banes would have sabotaged the air conditioning to deceive thermal scanning equipment," Miranda inferred. "It's a sound theory."
"Unfortunately, Shepard, the Normandy is too far out of range for me to take accurate readings," EDI replied. "But perhaps Lt. Cortez can do so in the shuttle."
"No, I don't want to risk the lives of these scientists inside should Cortez come within visual range of the base," Shepard disagreed and held up his hand.
"Commander, these lives are not worth the trouble if the mission becomes much more complicated," Javik piped in his thoughts. "We should not continue to attack this base. You already have people from this organization that are working on the Crucible. Your Alliance army should not assault this Illusive Man's base of operations if more time is needed to complete the weapon."
"What do you mean, Javik?"
"By now, Commander, you must understand how I think," the Prothean responded coolly. "I am in agreement with the asari and the human female soldier. This is a trap, and you are far too important to your own kind to waste your time on this planet for a probability."
Shepard's eyes traveled to Miranda's; they pleaded with hers to voice her own judgments. She returned his gaze and folded her arms across her chest. "If there are truly scientists in the lab, then they would have been able to give Banes a better means of communication and not such an unreliable signal. He couldn't give you any real answers, Shepard."
He pursed his lips together and nervously rubbed his fingers above his lips as he considered his options. So much was riding on his shoulders right now. Did a dozen more scientists really matter now? What if he could only get a handful of them out? What if they were all too shell shocked to work?
Miranda's voice broke his train of thoughts as she had an idea. "I may be able to overload the bomb on the other side of the door with my omni-tool; however, that would cause a number of other electronic devices surrounding the area to immediately fail as well from the EMP charge."
"And if there were guards in that area…" Liara added.
Shepard drew his pistol again from his belt. "Do it, Miranda. Ash, if you hear something go wrong, you take your chances from the front. We'll try to evacuate as many scientists as possible."
"Will do, Commander. You can count on us," she told him.
Miranda spun around and continued her work. Before she opened the door, though, she sent a charge through it. The suspense was terrifying for all three teammates as they waited; they all wisely kept their distance. Finally, the door successfully opened without causing an explosion.
As Miranda had stated, the lights and several pieces of electronic equipment near the entrance were not functioning. Shepard crept forward first and motioned for his squad mates to keep their distance. Liara and Miranda hid behind a tall stack of crates that was approximately seven feet high while Shepard crouched behind some barrels of either gas or liquid that were much shorter right next to them.
One lone assault trooper wandered into the room to check on the disturbance; the stunning club remained attached to his hip, and he had no assault rifle upon his back. Shepard cocked his pistol and was about to take him out until Liara's hand came to rest upon his shoulder. He stared up at her in wonder, and she pointed to the anomalous situation that was walking around the room right in front of them.
The soldier was not armed; the armor he wore appeared to be full of bullet holes. The telltale sign that also would have completely ruined the mission came into the light as he drew closer to their party; he was wired with explosives! As Shepard had guessed, the temperature was extremely warm, and as the assault trooper came closer, the squad mates all heard his labored breathing.
When the soldier was within grabbing distance, Shepard quickly seized him from behind the barrels and held a finger to his own lips. He pulled the helmet off of the man; there were no apparent traces of Reaper tech within his eyes, just complete terror. It was one of the scientists!
His eyes were full of worry as he looked upon his assailants, but some of it subsided as he made a second glance upon Miranda. "You," was all he said.
"Tell us why Banes lied about the mission," Shepard demanded.
"Banes is being held hostage like all of us here by someone named Victor Toombs," the scientist answered him, trying to calm himself down. "I only know this because I was there in the first lab when he took us by surprise with his mercenaries. The rest of my team is," he swallowed a nervous gulp, "is dressed in these uniforms just like me to fool outside infrared sensors as well as any outside help."
"Well, that almost did work," Miranda mused.
"We really do all want to help work on the Crucible. Toombs' team took out the original soldiers stationed here, and that's why you see all the extensive damage here," the scientist bent his head down to examine the bullet holes and blood that was smeared all over the armor. "He's crazy-he's having conversations with himself! And he's ordered complete silence throughout the base because of all the voices in his head!"
"Are you injured? You should get out of here while no one knows that you're missing from the group," Shepard ordered him. He was about to help the scientist get to his feet when the man shook his head 'no.'
"This bomb has a proximity distance trigger; I can't leave the compound without killing us all," he explained. "The trigger is on a device that Toombs brought with him and runs on a wireless network. It…it looks like one of those Prothean spheres. I remember working on one of those once!"
Miranda holstered her submachine pistol and knelt down next to the scientist. "If what you're saying is true, then Toombs' team of mercs won't know Cerberus codes. You should return to the others. Tell them that Hector will face Achilles alone, but the siege will go on."
"Hector will face Achilles alone, but the siege will go on," he repeated at first with a puzzled expression. As he remembered the meaning of the code, some relief came over his face, and he arose to his feet. "All right. We'll be ready." The scientist collected his helmet from the ground and secured it to his head with a slightly more relaxed sigh. He departed from the team's sight, Miranda arose to her feet, and withdrew her weapon from her belt.
"What did that mean?" Shepard asked her.
"It's an order to start to erase all existence of a Cerberus facility. And it also means that outside extraction support will be coming soon," she told him.
Without another moment to lose, Shepard activated his radio.
"Williams, bring your party around the back. We're inside the base, and you were right. This whole mission was a ruse to get to me. Everyone who's wearing a lab uniform is hostile, and the people who are dressed in Cerberus assault trooper uniforms are friendlies."
"All right, Commander. I've got no less than twenty questions to ask you right now, but they can all wait until later," she replied.
"How long will you need to get here?"
"Since we have to go the long way around on foot, I'm gonna make a wild guess here and say ten minutes."
"Shepard, my cyber warfare suite could send a virus to the trigger that will disable the proximity bombs. However, I must have the name of the network in order to do that. If you could get into range of the detonator and tell me, then that would be sufficient," EDI informed him.
"All right, EDI, I'll work it into a sentence about the weather somehow, since it's so damned hot in here already." He got up onto his feet and some sweat off of his brow.
"Commander, I don't think that that's a good idea," Liara said and touched his arm. "Perhaps we could enlist the assistance of one of the scientists somehow instead."
"They'll be busy enough passing codes among themselves and staying alive," Miranda disagreed. "But I don't like this any more than you."
"I do not understand why you consistently put your life at risk for others who are a remote contingency, Commander," Javik spat. "Jeopardizing yourself for a mission that is an obvious trap is a fool's errand."
"I like your style, Loco, but you're still nuts," Vega chuckled. "You sure you really wanna do this?"
"Do you still not have a clue as to how much of the galaxy needs you, sir?" Williams inquired. "This is suicidal. I'd rather make a plan that involves Vega crashing another shuttle into the whole damn place."
"You need time to get here, and we need all of those scientists. This debate is over," Shepard stated. He instantly ducked as he noticed two of the mercs (dressed as the scientists) meander into the room armed with assault rifles.
The soldiers peered around the room. "This must be one of their older facilities," one commented. "Not everything is as perfect as you'd think." He signaled his companion's attention to the strobing fluorescent bulbs in the ceiling and the darkened area. Both mercs suddenly swung their weapons around and turned back to back. "Did you see that wall move?"
"This day has been too fucking long, man. Walls don't move. You're seeing things," the latter told him.
"You mean you didn't? Shit, where did Toombs get that trigger for those bombs any way? That thing didn't look like anything you could get from Hahne Kedar or Elkoss Combine or even Haliat Armories."
Shepard prepared himself for action and wiped some more sweat off of the back of his neck that had begun to bother him. Liara and Miranda once again flanked each other behind the crates.
"Maybe it's better not to know. Credits speak for themselves, don't they?"
"Ah, well maybe you're right. Nothing weird goin' on here," the former said with a shrug. "Come on, let's grab some water from the cooler once we get back to the lab." When they left, Ashley's voice came over Shepard's receiver in a whisper.
"We're on our way to you, Commander."
"Good. Okay, ladies, let's go." He waived his hand forward, and they accompanied him without a word. Nothing could be heard throughout their journey with the exception of Miranda's heeled boots clicking across the tiled floor and moving clothes.
About one minute later, they arrived at an electronically locked opaque door marked with the infamous split hexagonal Cerberus logo. "Sure hope that this leads to the lab," he mumbled and pressed a gloved hand to it while his omni-tool did its work. He made eye contact with them and put away his weapon. "I'd like for the two of you to wait on either side here. If things go to hell faster than usual, you both know what to do."
"Shepard," Liara gave him one last desperate plea, and her face wrinkled into a sad pout. She didn't even have to tell him to be careful.
"I know. I will." He gave her a weak grin and then tuned to Miranda, who lowered her gun. "So, how about one for the road?" he pointed to his cheek and gave her a half smile.
Miranda shook her head incredulously. "You're such a damned fool."
"But not half bad looking, at least," he shrugged. "Thanks for putting the pieces back together. Like you said, you do some damned good-"
He never got to finish his sentence as she let one hand go from her weapon to cup his jaw and bring her lips to his. If the temperature weren't so warm already, he would have been sweating after this kind of passion. The kiss was so fierce with energy, at first Shepard swore that his lips were burning. At the end, when their lips gradually parted from one another, she caressed his cheek and ran her fingers longingly over his mouth.
"I love you,"she whispered and took her place across the way from Liara.
"Oh, wow, well…now I can't die here," he joked. "I'm looking forward to cashing in on that statement later on."
"You'd better."
Shepard turned upon his heel and opened the door. No sooner had he walked another ten feet into the lab with his hands raised in surrender when dozens of Toombs' mercs flanked him holding up their assault rifles and shotguns. "Okay, I know I didn't bring an invitation, fellas, but this is a bit harsh," he laughed feebly.
"Keep going inside, dirt bag," one of the mercs ordered him and shoved the barrel of his assault rifle into Shepard's lower back.
"Look who we found," another merc proudly informed his boss, who was currently holding a gun to Armistan Banes' head.
Time was not kind to Victor Toombs; he looked just as weak and unstable as when Shepard saw him three years ago on Ontarom. The only difference was that now he had the advantage of both men and firepower. His eyes had that familiar peacock hue reminiscent of the same color that Shepard saw in Saren and the Illusive Man. "I knew that Hackett would send you. Everyone else in the Alliance has been running around like chickens with their heads cut off," he glanced at Shepard briefly, then returned his attention to Banes. "Welcome to the gateway to Hell, Shepard."
We are the harbinger of your destruction.
"Do you know why they are, Toombs? Have you noticed what's been going on for the past few months?" Shepard inquired.
"Like I care, especially after I found out that you were sleeping with the enemy. You turned your back on the Alliance and me!"
"The Alliance wasn't doing anything about the human colonies that went missing, Toombs. At the time, Cerberus was a necessary evil. And now they need to be wiped out." He paused to study his surroundings. "You know, I have to congratulate you, Toombs. This was quite an elaborate scheme just to lure me here."
"I'm killing two birds with one stone, Shepard. I can blow up another Cerberus base and a traitor. What could be better than that?"
"How about we make a deal? Let these people go, and we can both take down the Illusive Man himself. I'm planning to hit his base next." Shepard held up his hands peacefully.
"You talked me down three years ago when my brain wasn't right. Now that I'm whole again, you're not gonna take advantage of me this time."
"So how'd you learn about this place?"
"I got the intel from a dead Shadow Broker operative on Omega while the Cerberus siege happened. Talk about a gift that was dropped practically into my lap." Toombs proudly grinned and made eye contact with Shepard again. "Where's the rest of your team?"
Shepard sheepishly glanced about himself and took a few steps forward towards Toombs. "Guess I must've left them on the Normandy."
"I'm not as stupid as I must look. Where's the krogan? Or the asari?"
"You want me, not them. That's why I'm here." He ventured forward even further as his eyes swept the lab for the trigger.
"That's as far as you go, Shepard." Toombs made a gesture with his head, and his mercenaries readied their weapons. The Alliance soldier stopped dead in his tracks as he finally discovered where the trigger was. Unfortunately, the holo screen was still too far away for him to read; it was about five inches across and one inch wide. The trigger also appeared to be emanating a cerulean blue pulse every few seconds.
"Let's talk about this, Victor. These scientists don't want to work for Cerberus any more. They've seen how corrupt and wrong the Illusive Man has become."
"So you worked for them because they were looking into disappearing human colonies. I did the same thing for the Alliance, Shepard, on Akuze almost ten years ago, and they're still just as bad as they were then! Don't try to identify with me, you sick bastard!"
"Look-" Shepard took another step forward, which caused the mercs to remove all of their safeties or pump their shotguns.
"I'll kill them all, Shepard."
"Just hear me out, Victor. Then you can do whatever you'd like to me. The Reapers will destroy us all if we don't get a weapon of mass destruction together. That's what these scientists want to help us build. Cerberus wants to try and control them, but that's impossible. Nobody can do that; anyone who tries will eventually become their slave. Think of the bigger picture here, Victor."
"Stop calling me that, you lousy prick!" Toombs yelled.
"There's good in you, Toombs. I know you want to rid the galaxy of what's wrong, and that's exactly what I'm doing here, too. Help me out."
The Alliance veteran lowered his gun as he thought about Shepard's offer.
"You know, that was a brilliant move, Toombs, to kill the air conditioning," Shepard continued and smeared a hand over his burning hot face. "It fooled all of the Alliance's and Cerberus' scanning equipment. Can I ask what this does?" He journeyed towards the table that had the bombs' trigger on it and touched it. The wireless network name came right into plain sight, and it did not surprise Shepard at all.
The device pulsed and sent a surge of current into him. Shepard jumped, and this caused Toombs to raise his weapon again. The shock sent his body to the ground.
"Why'd you do that? They were talking to me, showing me the future!"
"I'm sorry, I-"
Toombs pointed the gun at Banes' head and shot him at point blank range. Blood from the Cerberus operative's head spattered onto the pristine white floor. His teammates readied themselves but this time aimed their weapons at the scientists.
"No! Please! Toombs, what did you learn on Akuze, which if I remember correctly, was a pretty hot planet?" Before the vet could answer him, Shepard went on. "The Cerberus scientists there didn't show any mercy to you or our fellow brothers and sisters in the Alliance. And that's why I couldn't let you kill Dr. Wayne. I didn't want you to live with the guilt or consequences. Can I tell you why I saw that Cerberus was wrong and why I stopped working with them?"
"You still deserve to die. You're not gonna change my mind, Shepard," Toombs sneered.
"Then don't kill them. These people haven't hurt you. We're not on Akuze."
"Patronizing me will get you absolutely nowhere, so just stop while you're ahead."
Shepard's earpiece vibrated as EDI's synthesized voice hit his ear. "I've already begun to upload the virus into the trigger, Shepard. The progression rate is currently at 20%; however, Lt. Williams the rest of her team are about to be spotted by some turrets that are on the eastern side of the complex. I will warn them and see if I am able to hack them."
Automated fire from outside the base distracted everyone; it must have come from the turrets that EDI spoke about. "Oh, crap," Shepard muttered, fired up his implants, and threw back a group of mercenaries onto the ground.
"I knew it. You lying son of a bitch!" Toombs screamed and fired his weapon at Shepard, who dived for cover behind one of the tables.
The moment that Toombs let off one round was all that Liara and Miranda needed to know that the whole plan was doomed to possible failure. They ran inside, took cover behind some walls, and started to gun down the mercs who opened fire upon Shepard. "Where are we, EDI? This could get nasty!" Shepard yelled and removed his shotgun from his lower back.
"60%, Shepard. However, it looks as if Lt. Commander Williams and her team have passed the turrets successfully," EDI replied.
The scientists all fearfully ducked their bodies wherever they could to avoid fire. Some of them even scampered through broken glass on their hands and knees to escape it.
Liara peeked her head out for a moment, saw a group of three mercs huddled together, and made eye contact with Miranda. The Aussie nodded her understanding; their minds were in harmony. The Asari nailed them with a wide singularity, and she hit them with a solid warp field.
"Enjoy the ride," Liara said.
"Now let's finish you off!" Lawson exclaimed.
Once the human and asari finished their mighty biotic combination, Shepard seized an opportune moment to charge forward into two soldiers who had broken their cover to try and assess the battle's situation.
Pain is an illusion, Shepard. Organics need not fear us.
He blasted two rounds into them just to be sure that they were dead. His fellow squad mates gave him some suppressing fire so that no one could surprise him.
"80%, Shepard," EDI declared flatly.
"You're dead meat, and you are all mine, you scumbag!" Toombs barked. He jumped out from his hiding place and made a dead run for Shepard. "You'll never get to see what I have!"
"Look out, Shepard!" Miranda cried as she and Liara advanced.
T'soni threw out a stasis field around Toombs; he remained there as they helped clear out some more enemies from the lab. But it unfortunately did not last long enough. As soon as the field disappeared, he kept quiet this time and scanned the room for his target. Seconds later, he found Shepard kneeling behind a table that did not completely hide his legs, and put a round through his nemesis' kneecap. He ducked a hail of bullets coming from Miranda just in time after he made his shot. One round did graze his helmet and penetrate the casing, however.
Shepard grunted as the bullet entered his armor and shattered into several pieces around his patella. He crumpled onto the floor and tried to get up, but his body wouldn't let him. Shepard then activated his omni-tool and issued himself an application of medi-gel. "The upload is complete, Shepard," EDI informed him. "The scientists can now leave the premises without collateral damage."
"Good, cause I'm getting a little tired of sneaking around here. It's harder than it looks," he groaned. "Everyone out! You're good to go!" he shouted in a louder voice.
Liara and Miranda motioned to two scientists that were closest to them to go. As they headed for the exit, more of the scientists started to make a break for it. Toombs witnessed his hostages scurrying out of sight one by one and clenched his teeth. There was no way that Shepard was going to win. He was determined take everyone down, including himself if need be.
Toombs spotted Shepard leaning around a corner and squeezed in a lucky couple of shots. The first collided with an epaulet, but the next one was the one that unfortunately made an impact. The bullet nailed him just along his neck where the armor ceased to protect him, and Shepard went down. The former Alliance soldier confidently arose to his feet to go and finish him off. He reached for a failsafe trigger onto his belt. "You'll die with me, here and now," he announced.
"Not today, Toombs," Ash called from the doorway. Toombs' head snapped toward it, and she blasted him out of his misery with her assault rifle.
"Shepard!" Miranda screamed and strafed her way throughout the firefight to get to him.
When she finally did get to him, he was lying face down on his stomach. The blood that pooled around him soaked her knees as she frantically gave him one of her own applications of medi-gel. "He's losing blood, Williams, we have to get him out of here fast!"
Liara threw another group of mercs into a singularity and gunned them down as James ran inside. "Where are you?" he asked as his eyes searched the lab.
"Over here!" Miranda quickly held up a hand and withdrew it before the enemy could hit it.
"Vega, get Shepard back to the shuttle with the scientists. We'll finish everyone else off here!" Ash commanded him and let loose another spray of bullets from her weapon.
"Yes, ma'am," he agreed and rolled from cover to cover towards Miranda and Shepard. Seconds later, he reached them and holstered his shotgun. "How bad is he?" he whispered to her.
"Wounded in the neck, and probably everywhere else, too. I've given him some medi-gel to seal it off," she responded gently. "Try not to jostle him if you can help it."
"Hey, I know I look all big and burly, Legs, but I'm actually quite a softie on the inside." He scooped Shepard up and cautiously hiked him up onto his shoulders. "Can you give me some cover fire?"
"With pleasure," Miranda nodded, extended her hand forward, and slammed three mercs that had just been shot at by Ashley against the wall. "Fall and die!" She continued to fire her weapon after that as if nothing had just happened.
"Damn, I don't need to be told twice. Here I go!" Vega remarked and made his escape successfully out the door with Shepard. "Esteban, I hope you're ready to fly us back to the Normandy like a runaway coyote. The commander got shot."
"I'm already at the LZ, Mr. Vega and know the score. I'm just waiting on you," the pilot told him.
After Vega brought Shepard back from the shuttle, he wasted no more time, and hurried into the med bay. Chakwas was already there and prepared for surgery. "Doc, did you hear…?" he began as he laid Shepard onto a gurney.
"Yes, all of it, Lieutenant. Bring the rest of them all back safely. We haven't come this far to let Shepard die now," she declared and started to strip off Shepard's armor.
"Damn right." He left the infirmary and made his way back down to the hangar bay, where Steve was impatiently waiting for him.
"Let's go, Vega. The rest of the team is waiting for extraction," Cortez commanded him.
"Already? Those ladies are fast!"
"Don't forget about the alien, too. I'm sure he had a lot to do with it."
"That dude scares the hell outta me. When we did that mission with the rachni, he went charging forward into two of those cannibals. Then he hit a ravager perfectly with his biotics." Vega jogged back into the kodiak, and Cortez immediately deployed them back down to the planet's surface.
Back in the laboratory, the remainder of the two teams finished off the mercenaries. Miranda holstered her gun and made her way over to the trigger. Williams immediately held up her hand. "Don't touch it, Lawson!"
"Why not? The scientists here said that it was affecting Toombs, causing him to hallucinate and hear voices. This device might have the potential to help us crack indoctrination," she turned and gave Ash a stern look.
"Or not. You see, this is why I didn't want you on the ship." She pointed her assault rifle forward as if making a point.
"Clarify your suspicions, then, Williams."
"The Illusive Man has been messing around with Reaper tech for years; it's only up until now that his work has come to light. And didn't you quit Cerberus because you disagreed with him?"
"Correct. He tried to order me to stop Shepard from destroying the Collector Base. I had no intention of shooting the man I love. And…" she shifted upon her feet as she thought. "I could see that he didn't care about humanity as much as I'd thought. Something was causing him to lose his true vision of Cerberus."
"Do you really think that that thing would do us any good now? Do you want to save the Illusive Man or something?" Ash's tone grew disrespectful.
"Ashley," Liara's voice chided her.
"Liara, I'd appreciate it if you'd escort the scientists back to the shuttle with Javik." Williams made eye contact with her; as she noticed neither alien move, she raised her voice slightly to give a command. "Now."
"Aye aye," the Asari quietly responded and obeyed.
When everyone else left, Williams sheathed her assault rifle and strolled over towards Toombs' corpse. "Since I'm now the ranking officer, Lawson, we do things my way. That means we blow everything in this base to Hell. Are we clear, or will that be a problem with you?" Williams' voice was not belligerent, but it was not polite.
Miranda's sapphire eyes clashed with Ashley's chocolate irises as she pondered the matter. Williams discovered the failsafe trigger that was still intact upon Toombs' weapon belt and picked it up. Ten seconds later, Lawson finally agreed and made her way towards the exit. "You're right. I'll meet you back at the shuttle."
The explosion of the base sent a massive shockwave to the Kodiak after Williams pressed the button on the detonator. No one dared to say a word on the rest of the trip back to the Normandy.